No customers were harmed during the writing of that click-baity blog title …and let’s all agree that there are much better ways to spend an afternoon than literally medicating your customers.
But, have you ever stopped to consider the pains your customer may be feeling?
Here is a 10-20 min exercise you can do yourself. Grab a pen, paper and ponder the following:
Step 1 – Identify Customer Pains.
Pains are anything that frustrate, interrupt or otherwise stop your customer from getting through the day with contentment. They are going to be different for everyone, and if you have segmented your customer base it’s worth repeating this process for each persona.
Pains can be functional unwanted outcomes, problems or experiences:
- “I hate running on a treadmill”
- “I cannot imagine being stuck with no phone”
- “Handbags without pockets are useless”
- “I just don’t like the way my house looks, it hasn’t been painted in 5 years”
Pains can be obstacles:
- “I don’t have any time to exercise”
- “I don’t have the space at home to cook a good meal”
- “I just can’t afford creche services in this area”
Pains may even be risks:
- “I don’t want to lose the credibility of my team”
- “My family will judge me for using this service”
- “I am terrified of being associated with failure”
- “What if I make the wrong choice and am stuck with the consequences?”
Slip into your customer’s shoes for a minute.
Imagine a day in their life; what are the frustrations they encounter? What costs them money, time, emotional resilience, reputation etc.? What blockers stand in their way, preventing them from achieving success or contentment? What social consequences are they facing, and how might these impact their thoughts or actions?
Step 2 – You have pain relievers!
Pain relievers are the products or services you offer, which directly solve a specific pain your customer is experiencing.
So, get listing them! You will never be able to cure every pain, but it’s worth considering whether your products or services;
- Provide savings? (Time / money / effort?)
- Eliminate or reduce risk?
Encourage your customer to think differently about their obstacles? - End difficulties?
- Remove frustrations?
You are one step closer to your value proposition
By defining the pains experienced by a specified customer segment, and positioning your products or services as a direct and explicit pain reliever you are one step closer to developing a meaningful value proposition. In doing so you are going to be able to speak to customers about things that matter most to them.
As a species, us humans are soft, squishy and we hate pain. We will do almost anything to avoid it!
Considering the frustrations faced by our customers is a powerful way to build empathy in your messaging.
How did you get on?
If you take on this exercise, why not let us know!
How did you find it? Did you kick up any interesting thoughts or challenges?
Drop us an email and share your thoughts any time.
