Is Your User Persona Telling the Whole Story?
Sep 22, 2026
by Nicole Werner
Businesses need to pinpoint their audience. UX/UI practitioners commonly build user personas. This tool helps teams create effective target marketing, communicate with customers, and understand their behaviors and buying habits.
Often, however, they don’t tell us how they'll achieve the actions businesses want them to take. I’ll be the first to admit that it has happened to me when I was a UX/UI designer. Based on the company user personas, I would take the Product Requirements Document (PRD) and craft a user journey that seemed to function fairly smoothly while meeting the business needs.
But then a few key statements from high-level executives made me question my design priorities. “Why do we care what ‘Joe Customer’ thinks about our website?” and “disabled people aren’t going to buy tires.” These statements were clear bias indicators.
In those moments, I knew I needed to change how I articulated my user personas. I was accounting for the person’s financial status, buying power, and how they made their buying decisions. But I never once considered their physical or mental capabilities while using a website.
That was a mistake I have learned from. It's also what I decided to prioritize in all my business dealings. It is the cornerstone of my new consultancy, Covenforge Strategy Studio. I invite you to learn more about how bias is affecting your user personas.
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