Imagine if you could talk to your ideal customer…

And you could do it anytime you liked…

And ask them anything you liked…

It would be an amazing way to kickstart your online course.

Because you’d be able to tap directly into your future student’s mind, so that you knew their fears, hopes, struggles and frustrations.

This is why understanding your potential customers is one of the most important steps in any enterprise.

You should always start with a specific person in mind when you are thinking about creating a product – whether that’s a digital course or a novelty crochet item on Etsy.

If you don’t know precisely who you are selling to, what they like and dislike, then how can you know exactly what to create.

It’s particularly important for course creation.

Because the personality and life experiences of your best buyer influences everything… from the style of your written communications… to the level of advice you give… to the structure of the course… right down to the colours and design.

Get it right, and your ideal customer will feel almost like your product has been designed JUST FOR THEM.

And when you’re spending money on something, there’s no better feeling than that.

Aiming for a real person, with real emotions, means you’ll get great reviews, great customer retention and low refunds.

This is why I always advise that you create what is commonly known as a ‘customer avatar’.

It’s basically a little character study of the kind of person you are aiming to sell to.

I don’t mean a general demographic like ‘Over 40, female, married, middle class’.

But something more rounded and individual, like ‘Susan Jones, a married 45 year old mother of older children who have left school.

She’s looking for a home based career related to natural and complementary medicine to give her financial freedom and a sense of fulfilment.’

If you’ve never done this before I’ve created some great (free) training which you can access here: Heloise’s In synch Structure Training

If you are a student on my Course Creation Academy training, you’ll find everything you need there – I’m also developing an AI tool for you to make it even easier (will be landing on your site very soon). Anyway I digress…

Once you’ve done that you then need to think about how that character is feeling – what their hopes and fears are, what obstacles and problems they face.

In the old days, this took some research – you’d need to go on forums, read Amazon reviews, check out people’s social media posts and talk to people you knew who might fit the bill and I still like to do this at the beginning but now there’s a another way to do all this using AI.

How to Chat to Your Customer Avatar

There is a new website and app (for Android and iPhone) called character.ai.

It allows you to create a character and then speak to it personally in a chat room.

You could pick a famous person, like Taylor Swift, Helen Mirren or Queen Victoria.

(Which is fun, but they’re not likely to be your customer).

Or, more usefully for entrepreneurs like us, you can input your customer avatar and chat to them!

Simply sign up to character.AI by going here: character.ai

Give yourself a username, then click on ‘create’.

Enter the name of your customer (make one up) and then describe them in the ‘greeting’ box.

Here’s a screenshot example, where I have inputted the following:

“I am Jane Smith, I am 35 years old, mother of two young children, married to a partner who is working for an average wage. I am degree educated and ambitious, but I have had to put my career on hold to start a family. I am looking for a way to turn my passion for design and crafts into a side income that will boost our income, give me more financial control and freedom, and yet still allow me plenty of time for my children.

Select ‘private’, so it’s just a chat for you.

I also suggest that you click on ‘advanced details,’ on the 3 vertical buttons to the top right so that you can add more detail like this:

This allows you to give more personality to your avatar.

Now all you need to do is chat to her!

To show you how it works, here is my conversation below – just copy my prompts when you try it yourself.

My Chat With My AI Customer, Jane!

ME: Hi Jane, how’s it going today?

Jane Smith: Hi, I am actually feeling pretty overwhelmed and stressed today. I have been trying to do some work towards starting my business but I am finding it really difficult to fit it in around the childcare commitments I have. And then I have been so busy I am feeling guilty for not spending enough time with my kids. I know I am the main breadwinner for our family, so I don’t have an option, it is just harder than I expected.

ME: What is your average weekday like?

Jane Smith: I usually get up quite early, before the kids, to try and do some work. But then I have to spend the morning getting them ready and taking them to nursery/school before I can do anything else. I have to fit in dinner and the kids bath times. Then they need help with homework and I have to put them to bed. I get maybe an hour to myself in the evening. So, it’s mostly juggling tasks all day and rarely having the time to get into flow and focus on my own priorities. I feel pretty mentally exhausted most days.

ME: What frustrations do you feel?

Jane Smith: Not having enough time to achieve what I want, whether it’s spending time with my children or creating the business I dream of. I guess I am also frustrated with myself not being able to find a better balance and work out a way of doing everything better. But the reality is I can’t change the fact that I have a family and that is what matters most to me. So, I am trying to think of ways which I can turn these constraints into my advantages somehow.

ME: What would help you live a better life?

Jane Smith: I would love to be able to have more flexibility in my work so that I could have a better balance between work and family life. It would also be great to be able to have some financial security and not worry about meeting all the household bills every month. So, I guess that is what I mean when I say I want to turn my frustrations into advantages – I would like to turn the frustration of needing the family’s main income into a reason to pursue a side hustle with the potential to become a main income in the future.

ME: What kind of tools, information and services might help, do you think? Are you looking for anything?

Jane Smith: Well, it would be helpful to try and get some basic business advice and support. For example, I am really interested in setting up an online store but I have no experience of selling online and I don’t know what platforms would be best and what tools I would need. I guess I am searching for a mentor or coach who can help me figure out the best approach and make things simpler and less stressful in the hope that I can start a side hustle in the next few months.

ME: What puts you off the idea of finding and paying for advice and information?

Jane Smith: I’m just worried about spending money on this sort of thing when I don’t have much to spend at the moment. I also worry that I might pay for the advice and then not be able to implement it because of the time constraints I have. But I am also thinking that maybe it’s better to pay for help now than try and figure everything out myself in the time I have when I am stretched so thin. It could be an investment which pays off in the future.

ME: In an ideal world, given the right advice and tools, where would you like to be in a year’s time? Describe your perfect week.

Jane Smith: In an ideal world I would have my side hustle up and running, even in a small way to begin with. I would still be taking in a reasonable income, whilst working in a way that is more flexible than my normal work. That would mean I would be able to spend more time with my children because I wouldn’t have to juggle all the hours around the housework so much. I would be able to do something creative every day and not feel so emotionally exhausted all the time. I would also have more time to do things that I enjoy, like meeting up with friends and making things for my home.

ME: What is your worst fear or concern about your life?

Jane Smith: I’m worried that in ten years time I will still be in the same situation – a stay at home mom of two young children who barely earns anything to add to the family income. My partner would probably have earned a few promotions by then but I would be right where I am now. I know my life won’t always be exactly the same and things change but this is my main fear, feeling like I’ve not fulfilled my potential and wasted the last decade.

Can you see how useful this could be?

There is so much fodder in there for you to use in sales copy, email content and course material.

For me, this is so brilliant, because it allows you to really get into the head of your target customer.

You can save the character and go back to it whenever you want more insights.

The AI keeps learning more over time as you provide more feedback, allowing you to develop a more realistic and complex avatar.

You can also try tweaking the advanced settings to change the character, making them more grumpy and pessimistic, or more positive and good humoured.

Whatever stage of business you are in, this is worth trying out – and it’s great fun too!

I hope you like this idea – I haven’t seen anyone else talking about it and I love when I introduce you to something new!

Please do let me know if you found it helpful.