It’s not easy to find the right people who want and need your products.
But if you can nail down and identify your customer’s pain points, you can reach out to and attract the core group of people who crave what you’re selling — the people who need your products and services in their lives, because your products solve a problem that’s been nagging them for so long.
Those people are out there, and you’re ready to help them.
The issue is targeting the right audience with your content, your products, and your services.
You may be attracting traffic, but they’re not converting and leading to sales. This is where you need 2 Visions: Ecommerce Consultant to assist you.
Note: Learn how I used cost effective SEO to drive 34,000 search engine visits in 60 days (for free).
It’s alright. Don’t fret. I wrote this article to help you do just that. You’re going to learn how to zero in on those pain points and cure them for your customers, making you a savior in their eyes, and attracting more business.
This is a major step when developing a thriving content marketing strategy, which leads to a thriving business.
It starts with discovering your customer’s pain points, and by centering your marketing strategy around their needs.
I’ve described four methods in this article. Whether you focus on one or employ them all, I’m certain you’ll be much closer to reaching the people who can truly gain something from what you offer.
These people are waiting for you to come knocking on their doorstep.
You just have to find them.
First, Make Sure You Aren’t Creating New Pain Points
Part of targeting pain points is also making sure that you aren’t creating any new ones – that your sales process is as streamlined as possible.
For example, most people now prefer contactless payment.
If you run a small pop-up store that only takes cash, or even chip-and-pin, you’re creating an unnecessary problem, or pain point, for many customers who are used to having more payment options.
In this instance, you can easily rectify the problem by investing in a mobile point-of-sale device (learn more about mobile POS systems here).
For an online business, the principle is the same. Find a problem you can solve, and solve it without creating any further pain points.
Make sure you’re lead generation funnel is as simple as possible for potential customers to move through. Keep payment options easy and straightforward. Make sure your website is easy to navigate.
This could net you additional income right off the bat.
The “5 Why’s” Method for Finding Your Customer’s Pain Points
This article on LKR Social Media describes “The 5 Why’s Method” as a way to hook more readers into your blog content. I think it’s a great way to find your customer’s pain points as well.
Here’s how it works:
- You determine what your audience is going through, what they’re struggling with.
- You prove to them that you understand it.
- You genuinely care about their problems and want to help them.
- You start with a surface-level issue they need solving, and you ask them “Why?” five times to pull out the pain points associated with it. (Kind of like when you were a kid, asking “Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?” to annoy your parents. Same deal, but with a much more profound purpose.)
Here’s an example from my own business (the format of which was stolen from LKR):
Customers: Business owners.
Surface-level issue they need solving: Their blog content isn’t gaining any traction with their audience.
Me: Why do you want more engaging content?
Owners: To attract potential customers.
Me: Why do you want to attract potential customers?
Owners: To get more sales and make more money.
Me: Why do you want to get more sales and make more money?
Owners: So that my business becomes successful.
Me: Why do you want your business to become more successful?
Owners: So I can take more time off to spend with my family.
Me: Why do you want to take time off to spend with your family?
Owner: So I can do the things in life that truly make me happy, and so I know all the work I have put in hasn’t been for nothing. So I know I’m providing a meaningful, valuable service to people.
What pain points have we discovered?
- Their main issue is getting engagement from their audience through their blog content.
- Their main need is to attract potential customers, get more sales, and make more money.
- Their desired outcome is a successful business, giving them more time to spend with family.
- Their true pain point is not being able to do the things in life that make them happy, and knowing they’re providing meaningful value to their customers.
This is crucial information for a content marketer and business owner. But it’s even more crucial for the audience.
Huh? What do you mean?
Let me explain.
If business owners don’t understand their customer’s pain points, how are these people going to get their problems solved?
The reason they have these problems is because they haven’t figured out how to solve their problems themselves.
So it’s your responsibility, your duty, to identify these pain points and deliver products and services that cure them.
Actions to take:
- Talk to your current customers. Ask them these questions. Have a genuine interest in finding out what problems plague their lives and how you can help them.
- If you don’t have customers yet, run a similar exercise like I did above, and metaphorically come up with your customer’s responses. It may not be concrete insight, but it’s better than winging it.
- Take your efforts to Google. Find Frequently Asked Questions related to your industry. This is a good starting point. FAQs arise because they address common concerns of a general audience. However, they are surface-level, so use them to dig deeper.
It may not be an easy exercise, or a quick endeavor, but it’s vital to the success of your business and the livelihood of the people you serve.
When you think about it this way, your motivation to complete this process will skyrocket.
Just remember: It’s your duty to identify and cater to your customer’s pain points.
That was a powerful method, but let’s move on to a few more that will supplement this exercise.
Find Out What Your Customers Are Reading, and Discover the Problems They’re Trying to Solve
Almost every industry has at least one magazine associated with it. If it doesn’t have a magazine, someone is blogging about it.
If it doesn’t have a blog, someone is asking questions on Quora or Reddit. If they’re not asking questions there, then they’re reading newspapers and stories related to their issues.
Without a decent blog, you’re going to find it difficult to find ways to increase organic traffic to your website. People always want to find out what you have to say and building your website traffic is important to keep drumming up those visitors and selling your products.
If a blog isn’t for you, what about a guide or two on your site? What about a vlog? How about more social media posts?
There are plenty of things that you can do to capture the attention of an expanded audience and when you understand the pain points of your customers, you can target these and make sure that you can increase your website traffic.
Other than entertainment, people read these forms of media to improve their lives and find solutions (i.e. to seek cures for their pain points).
Whether big issues or small, you’ll gain insight into your customers by reading what they read, learning what they’re trying to learn, and tailoring this information to your content, your products, and your services.
(Sidebar: If you’re struggling to build an audience for your content, or haven’t found the right way to start, click here.)
How to find what your customers are reading:
- Do a Google search for trade magazines, such as: + . (“construction management magazine”)
- Do a Google search for blogs discussing your industry, using the same method as #1. (“construction management blog”)
- Hop on Quora and Reddit and do a search for threads on your industry.
- Grab an issue of your local newspaper and scan for stories and sections that would resonate with your audience.
With each medium, identify the pain points afflicting your customers, and incorporate them into your content marketing strategy, marketing efforts, and how you sell your products and services (right down to the writing on the home page of your website).
Up next: Taking advantage of the social web to see what issues people are talking about.
What Are Your Customers Talking About on Social Media? That’s Your Insider Information
Identifying what your customers are talking about can help you make the right solid decisions for your company. For instance, if they talk about their needs, you will automatically create products that will satisfy such wants.
Your customers can also talk about what your competitors are doing. For instance, they can discuss the pricing strategy your competitors are using. They can also discuss their delivery methods and the quality of their products. With this, you can easily make the right business decisions on how to go about meeting their needs.
Did you know that your customers can help you identify the right business to partner with? Your customers are more likely to give honest comments about a specific company, negative or positive. With such information, you will be in a better position to make excellent decisions.
Besides, your customers can also talk about franchise business opportunities available that you could be unaware of. They could want to associate with a company that is under a specific franchisor. With this insight, you can make the right decision to deal with your customers’ pain points.
If you sift through the wacky cat videos and “11 Things Only 90’s Kids Will Understand” type of content, social media is a tool for people to discuss real issues and problems.
Cultural issues spread like wildfire. Status updates about pissed off drivers and terrible customer service make their rounds in the social landscape. When it comes to your business, you want to make sure that your business can proudly say these are not pain points people experience with your business. You can use things like contact center automation solutions to keep customer service top quality as an example.
Groups form, communities come together, and people discuss some of the most pressing issues plaguing their lives.
These are their pain points, and now you know where to find them.
Head over to the main social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Quora, etc) and do a simple search for your target audience.
Here are examples of searches in the top 4:
From there, look for groups, pages, profiles, and/or hashtags they have formed. Check them out and pay attention to what’s being discussed. You can also chime in if you have some helpful insight to share.
You’ll get a direct route into the minds of the people you serve, and the customers who truly want and need what you have to offer.
What Are Your Customers Searching For on the Internet? (Answer: Solutions to Their Pain Points)
This is called “keyword research.”
A vast number of free and paid services allow you to search for what other people are searching for on the Internet. They also tell you how often those searches are being made.
As marketers and businesses owners in the Internet era, we’re extremely lucky to have this information at our disposal. If we know what people are searching for, we know what problems they need solved. If we know what problems they need solved, we know how to position our products and services to meet their needs.
We know their pain points, and we know how to cater to them.
Here are my suggestions for conducting keyword research:
- Search for keywords and phrases related to your industry (typically 1-3 words in length)
- Fire up an excel spreadsheet and record the top searched keywords and how often they’re searched for
- Don’t worry too much about exact numbers. Use your results to get a relative idea of what is being searched for most often. Those are your key pain points.
- Choose 4-6 keywords or phrases to target in your content marketing strategy
- Take note of how these keywords relate to your products and services
Some free services to use (most services have paid options, as well):
Try out each service, decide which ones you like best, and use them to conduct future research as well.
Keyword research is one of the most powerful market research tools we have at our disposal. Don’t take it lightly.
And definitely don’t skip it (unless attracting more business isn’t really your thing).
Extra Tip: Find Professional Help
Running a business means that you will wear many hats during a single day at work. You might have to become the head of HR when hiring new talent, a plumber when fixing that leaking pipe, or a chef when having to jump in the kitchen to help your staff.
However, good entrepreneurs also know when a hat just won’t fit them.
And, if you have found that marketing your small business isn’t for you, don’t be afraid to invest your resources, hire a professional marketing agency, and benefit from tailored small business SEO packages.
After all, gaining visibility, understanding your customers, and targeting the right audience can make or break your business – don’t take chances!
A Culminating Conclusion
Your customer’s pain points are the driving forces behind their need for your products and services.
They spark the buying process. They spark the thoughts that go something like, “Man, this has been bothering me for way too long. I need to check out some companies that sell this product. Which company should I choose?”
That company is you. That business is you. That person is you.
But in order for them to find you, you have to cater to their needs with a genuine interest in solving their problems.
Because that’s business. We solve problems for people, they pay us for this service, and the reciprocal exchange of value lives on to serve everyone’s best interests.
It starts with determining your customer’s pain points.
And it ends with happy customers.
This was really helpful, Michael. I like the sequence you used to get to a prospect’s pain point—issue, need, desired outcome, and pain point. This is a great “recipe” for us to follow to actually find those pain points. It’s so important to do this kind of research before you create content, products, etc. Thanks for putting this together in a useable and helpful way!
No problem Jeannette. Glad it was helpful :).
Thanks for reading!
I like the part where you say ‘why’ over and over again until you find all the pain points the customer is experiencing. I’m trying to find out why someone wants to make money online and I’ve managed to trace it back to one potential root cause which is they hate their day job and want to quit.
It’s definitely an efficient way to break it down. It’ll give you the info you need to delve deeper and actually talk to your customers.
That’s why I wanted to make money online. Not so much because I hated my job, but because I didn’t want to have one ;).
Good luck with everything, and let me know if you need anything else.
This practice comes from 6sigma lean, it’s called diagram ishikawa 😉
Very good and detailed post. This will be a huge help in generating a healthy relationship with my customers, I cant wait to start finding more like-minded people so we can start building our online business’s together! I am always interested in feedback so please feel free to visit my website dylandefazio.com, contact me personally via Facebook! I look forward to seeing everyone grow with their online business!
Glad you found it useful Dylan. Let me know how if you need anything.
Really solid stuff here. wow.
Thanks Jason 🙂
Great article Michael.
I’m always telling my clients they need to stop telling people why they are so great and start focusing on those pain factors. You hit that pain, rub it in a bit more and then deliver the solution.
It still amazes me how many brands do not get this. They think people should buy their products just because they’ve worked hard to get them to market or just because they are on their website. Errr….wrong!
Listing product features is not selling the product. You need to address the customer needs and target your pitch and sales copy around them. That’s is what will flick the buy switch in their head!
Keep up the great work. I’m liking your style man.
Cheers
Matt
Thanks Matt! You definitely hit the nail on the head.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing to discuss how hard you worked on a product or a product’s features. It’s when those are the only selling points that brands run into trouble.
So it becomes crucial to identify pain points and address them.
Appreciate the comment Matt! Feel free to fire off an email if you need anything.
What a fantastic post!
Thanks for sharing it with us Michael
No problem Manpreet 🙂
This is awesome Michael. Very helpful
Glad you liked it Raghava 🙂
How do you sell stuff that has no pain point such as art?
Unfortunately, for art specifically I can’t give you any advice. I have no idea what drives art buyers.
But a pain point is just a drive. If your product doesn’t solve a problem, there is some other aspect or benefit that people derive from buying.
You can use similar methods outlined here to figured out the top benefits people can gain from your products and use those in your marketing.
cool and useful!thanks !
Thank you very much for the useful post Michael,
Our high school is part of a startup program (MIT Launch), and I was looking for something just like this to help me define the problem we are solving better.
Definitely going to share this with my own and many other groups 🙂
Itay
Thank you, Michael! I have searched for hours trying to find someone who would show me how to find the pain points and search the key words. You did it succinctly! I greatly appreciate it. Now, I can move on to the next phase of the project.
Hi Michael!
This was the same thought my previous boss explained to me. But he didn’t ask 5 times the why question, he told me to ask until the answer becomes stupid and basic enough.
But you are right, every why will reveal another layer of problem (that needs a solution).
Good stuff! Subscribing to the blog.
Thanks for this post it’s been very insightful. Learnt so much I’m taking action now.