Buyer personas give you insight into how to best engage with your various customer types. But before you start creating those personas, take time to do the research.

When gathering data about your customers, dig deep into both Web analytics and your own business intelligence, suggests WSI in the following infographic.

For example, research bounce rates, organic traffic, mobile traffic, leads via social media, referring sites, and page traffic.

Also consider conducting surveys. "Whether conducted via phone, in person, or by Web, surveys can collect valuable data like gender, age, geo-location, income, and ethnicity," states WSI.