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What is a Persona?

A Persona is a structured profile of a buyer or user type that your product targets. It goes beyond a job title — it captures pain points, goals, responsibilities, messaging guidance, and qualifying questions that agents use to personalize outreach, qualify prospects, and prep for calls. When an agent evaluates a prospect, it matches them to a Persona to determine what they care about, what language resonates, and which proof points to lead with. Without Personas, every agent output is generic. With them, agents tailor messaging to the specific priorities, vocabulary, and objections of each audience — automatically, at scale.

Buyer vs User Personas

Octave distinguishes two types:
  1. Buyer Personas — decision makers who approve the purchase. Example: “VP of Sales”, “CRO”, “CFO”.
  2. User Personas — people who use the product day-to-day. Example: “SDR Manager”, “GTM Engineer”, “Revenue Analyst”.
Playbooks reference both types, because agents tailor messaging differently depending on the audience. A buyer cares about ROI and strategic impact. A user cares about workflow improvement and time savings. The same product, positioned for different audiences.

What a Persona contains

FieldPurpose
NameJob title or role archetype
DescriptionOverview of this persona’s role and context
Pain pointsWhat frustrates them about the status quo
GoalsWhat outcomes they’re trying to achieve
ResponsibilitiesWhat they own and are measured on
Messaging guidanceHow to frame your value for this persona
Qualifying questionsQuestions to ask to confirm persona fit

How agents use Personas

When the Qualify Person agent evaluates a prospect, it compares the prospect’s title, responsibilities, and signals against your defined Personas to determine which one matches — and how strong the fit is. The result includes a confidence score and the specific pain points to emphasize. When the Sequence Agent generates outbound emails, it reads the matched Persona’s messaging guidance to ensure every message speaks to what that persona actually cares about — not generic product features. This means a CFO receives messaging about cost reduction and ROI timelines, while an SDR Manager sees messaging about ramp time and rep productivity — all from the same agent, drawing from different Personas in the same Playbook.

Managing Personas via API

  • GET /api/v2/persona/list — list all personas in your workspace
  • GET /api/v2/persona/{id} — get a specific persona with all fields
  • POST /api/v2/persona/create — create a new persona
  • POST /api/v2/persona/generate — AI-generate personas based on your product and market
  • PUT /api/v2/persona/update — update an existing persona
  • DELETE /api/v2/persona/delete — remove a persona