People don’t buy a product or service just because it’s cheap or has flashy features. While these reasons might contribute to their purchase decision, they ultimately purchase a product because it solves a problem.
Don’t have time to eat an expensive sit down meal? Grab food at McDonalds.
Can’t take high quality photos on your iPhone? Get a Nikon camera.
Tired of driving to the gym everyday? Purchase an at-home workout program on DVD.
If you understand your customers’ problems, you can position your product or service as the solution. That’s why customer pain points are so important.
What is a customer pain point?
A customer pain point is a problem your audience faces that your product or service can resolve.
By understanding customer pain points, you can promote your product or service more effectively and write convincing marketing copy. Your audience is much more likely to buy if you can clearly articulate how you’ll solve their problems or pain points.
How can I find my customers’ pain points?
Talk to your customers and audience. Ask them what they’re struggling with and how you can help them. Find out the specific way your product or service can resolve their issues.
Here are a 3 simple methods to get your customers to share their pain points:
Send your subscribers an email.
Asking a simple question in an automated email is an easy way to learn more about your customers’ pain points. Thinkific, an online course hosting platform, asks subscribers to share what’s stopping them from creating an online course in their automated welcome series.
The answers to this question can show them what educational content they should create to resolve customer pain points. Plus, they can write case studies that explain how Thinkific helps people overcome different course creation pain points.
2. Survey your customers.
Share a survey on your social channels or within an email and ask people to explain what they’re currently struggling with. In our own surveys, we often ask email subscribers to share their biggest email marketing challenge. We can then create educational content to resolve those challenges. For instance, we created our What to Write in Your Emails and Email List Growth Blueprint courses after receiving survey feedback requesting help with email copywriting and list growth.
3. Speak with your customers.
Ask a few customers to chat with you on the phone. Or, host an educational webinar and save time at the end for questions. Conversations with your customers are the best way to discover what their pain points are.
What’s an example of how I might use customer pain points in email marketing?
Imagine you’re a social media expert who offers hourly consulting services to help businesses improve their social media strategy. Here are a few pain points your potential customers might struggle with:
- They’re too busy to regularly post on social media.
- They don’t know what content to share on their social platforms.
- They know they should be using Facebook ads, but they don’t know how to set them up or get them to work.
- They’re unsure how to grow their social following.
- They have a large social media audience, but they don’t know how to get those followers to buy.
Using this example, let’s say you want to focus on acquiring customers who need help with #3: Facebook ad strategy.
You know that a common customer pain point is not understanding how to set up a Facebook ad. So you decide to create a digital guide called 5 Simple Steps to Set Up Your First Facebook Ad, and you use it as an incentive on your sign up form.
When people subscribe to receive this incentive, you send them the following automated email series:
Email 1: Here’s your free guide to Facebook ads!
In this email, you welcome subscribers to your email list and you give them your free guide 5 Simple Steps to Set Up Your First Facebook Ad.
Email 2: Why Facebook ads are the best way to acquire leads
This email proves that Facebook ads are worth investing in.
Email 3: Here’s how I helped one business earn $50,000 with Facebook ads
To demonstrate that your expert advice helps people get results, you share a case study that explains how you helped one business launch successful Facebook ads.
Email 4: Need help launching effective Facebook ads?
In the final email of your series, you sell your Facebook ad services. You explain that you can help the reader launch effective Facebook ads and grow their business. Then, you ask them to purchase a consultation session with you.
This entire email series is based on a simple customer pain point. It’s effective because it positions the business’ service as a solution to that pain point.
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