Developing personas for live streaming commerce platforms with user survey data

Live streaming commerce has emerged as a novel form of online marketing that offers live streaming commerce platforms a means of meeting different user groups’ needs. The objective of this article is to examine the effects of age and gender on live streaming commerce platform usage and investigate user characteristics of these platforms in China. This study adopted a data-driven persona construction method combining quantitative and qualitative methods through the use of survey and interview. The survey involved 506 participants (age range = 19–70), and the interview involved 12 participants. The survey findings showed that age significantly affected users’ livestream platform usage, while gender did not. Younger users had higher device proficiency and operation numbers. With more trust and device use, older users used the platforms later in the day than younger users. Interview findings revealed that gender affected users’ motivations and value focus. Women tended to use the platforms as a means of entertainment. Women valued service quality and enjoyment more, while men focused on the accuracy of product information more. Four personas with significant differences were then constructed: Dedicated, Dependent, Active and Lurker. Their various needs, motivations and behavior patterns can be considered by designers to elevate the interaction of live streaming commerce platforms.