Thursday, January 23, 2025
(Edmond Dantès / pexels)
If you’ve read any of my “NO B.S….” direct response marketing books, you may have learned that I still use a fax machine to send and receive communications. I’ve been vocal—and maybe even a bit obnoxious—about my disdain for email. It’s a digital mess, a time-sucking black hole where spam and pointless updates breed.
Now, if you’re trying to sell me on switching from fax to email, you’d better come equipped with a jackhammer for my objections and a downright brilliant reason why I should care about your email solution in the first place. And that’s exactly how you should approach your customers’ pain points.
Addressing customer pain points head-on is one of my top direct marketing tactics. I see too many marketers these days trying to avoid “being negative” at their own peril.
Your current and potential customers have gripes and complaints. These prevent them from buying or becoming loyal to you. Every business owner needs to understand and overcome their audience’s pain points or risk losing them to the competition that does it better.
Uncover your customer’s pain points. Address them and explain how you are the solution they didn’t know they needed.
Your customer’s negative feelings and emotions are your hidden key to unlocking a world of success. Below, learn more about speaking to your customers’ pain points to improve your marketing and bottom line.
Let’s cut the nonsense. Nobody cares about your 20MB of cloud storage or whatever jargon you’re peddling. What they care about is what your product or service does for them. Will it keep their precious data safe? Will it save them from throwing their computer out the window in frustration?
Features are like fancy buttons on a suit—completely useless unless they help close the deal. Forget the features and get right to the benefits.
Afraid of being negative? Good. Fear keeps us alive.
People notice pain faster than they notice pleasure—it’s biology. So, instead of sprinkling sunshine, shine a spotlight on the pain points that make your customers twitch. Then, offer your product as the cure to their misery. If you think this sounds manipulative, think: Why shouldn’t the solution to their problem be you?
Finding your customer’s pain points help you:
Some companies find a pain point and work backward to invent the solution their customers crave. Some people discover an unmet need, build a solution, and wind up starting a business.
Relating to another’s pain helps you better connect and communicate with your customer.
Finding your customer’s pain points is not some mystical quest. It’s simple: dig where it hurts.
Dive into complaint logs, read your worst reviews (yes, even the ones that make you cringe), and spy on your competitors like your business depends on it—because it does. If you’re not willing to get your hands dirty, don’t expect to strike gold.
Check your support tickets and online reviews. Find the lesson in a poor rating. Discover trends among help requests.
Technology can help you see your customers' online behaviors. Do they get stuck at a certain point? Do they leave at a specific landing page or instruction?
See what your customers say about you online (reviews, social media, search engines).
What does a successful competitor offer that you don’t? How should you conform? How should you stand out?
There’s no shame in being direct. Ask your customers outright what they liked or disliked about their journey, product, or service using customer surveys or focus groups.
Price, time, quality—the holy trinity of complaints. Ignore them at your peril.
Customers don’t care about your excuses; they care about results. If your process feels like navigating a maze or your customer service makes people want to scream, you’re handing your competitors a golden ticket. Fix these issues before they fix your bottom line.
Frustration, anxiety, confusion—these emotions aren’t just obstacles; they’re opportunities. When your customer feels like nobody else gets it, that’s your opening to swoop in as the hero.
Speak directly to your audience’s pain and offer salvation. If you can turn their tears of frustration into tears of relief, congratulations—you’ve just made a sale.
Connect with your customers or your competitor will.
Your solutions will be unique to your business and audience. However, you can bank on them having to do with the following:
Here’s the bottom line: Your customers are begging for a solution—often in not-so-polite terms. You can either be their knight in shining armor or the clueless merchant they abandon for your smarter competition.
Dig into your customers’ complaints. Rip off the bandaid. Build your business around their biggest pain points, and you won’t just survive—you’ll dominate.
Customers often have concerns that can prevent them from purchasing or remaining loyal to your brand. Business owners must address these pain points to avoid losing customers to competitors. Read more in this infographic.
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