As part of the process to fine tune my UX skills I am consulting with several small businesses to develop their websites. One of the businesses is an independent yarn dyer wanting to expand into online sales. To get a feel for their target audience I interviewed local yarn store employees. The customer base for a small yarn store strongly overlaps the customer base for an independent yarn dyer. In both cases, customers know that other options besides big box craft stores exist and are willing to pay premium prices for high quality goods.

Long-term yarn store employees have a great sense of the types of people who come in to shop or call with questions along with the goals and concerns those people have. After the information gathering sessions I compiled these insights into customer archetypes.