All business owners have one common goal — build a successful company. Some people measure their success by sales and conversions, and while this isn’t a wrong answer, it’s certainly not complete. Real success in business stems from creating a company that can solve a problem currently affecting a large percentage of consumers.
These problems are called pain points. Success in terms of business growth sounds great, but is it sustainable? In other words, will there be a consistent group of people coming back to your business to make repeat purchases? The difference between a novelty product and one that sees constant growth year over year all comes down to how it solves problems for consumers.
If you’re currently creating a website or looking to grow an existing site in the future, we are going to help you figure out your customer’s pain points. These tips will help you build a product and brand known for solving problems and improving lives.
Understand the types of Pain Points
The first thing you should understand the different types of pain points that exist. The best way to understand your audience is to put yourself in their shoes. Once you can see the issue in its full context, you can work towards delivering them a product that solves their problem.
There are four major pain point categories:
Financial – Financial pain points mean that a consumer is spending too much money on a problem, or are looking for a solution for the first time.
Assistance – Assistance pain points are reserved for consumers who have a goal in mind but don’t have the support they need to follow through.
Streamline – Consumers with streamline pain points already have a solution they are regularly using, but they are looking for a product or service that can simplify the process.
Productivity – Those with productivity pain points have a goal in mind, but are wasting time and generally need help making the most of their time. Productivity pain points can be solved by giving the consumer a different way to tackle the task at hand.
Once you’ve figured out the type of pain point your business hopes to solve, it’s time to take a look at your target audience.
Reassess Your Customer Personas
When you create a business, you usually have a target audience in mind. You likely built customer personas that show the goals, ideas, and hobbies of all of your ideal prospects. Here’s the thing, as you promote your company and obtain a broader audience, your customer’s original pain points can change.
Sometimes you’ll have to step back and reassess the persona’s you’ve created by examining your Google Analytics data. You should also track the engagement on your content. Take some time to think about new products or services you’ve created, and what kind of audience that might add to your existing pool of customers.
Ask the Right Questions
The best way to learn about your customer’s pain points is by asking them. There are plenty of ways you can reach out to your target audience to see how they feel about your products, website, and the niche as a whole.
Customer surveys both on your social media and your website can provide a wealth of information on the mindset of your audience. For example, if you’re in the gardening industry, and you frequently post topics about growing vegetables, only to discover in a social media poll that 85 percent of your audience needs help growing flowers, you would have to adjust your marketing plan.
In this case, both pain points fall under the assistance category. However, the approach is wrong. Customers are on your blog, and social media account because they want to learn about flower gardening, not vegetables.
When you’re creating a poll or survey for your website, always leave room for the consumer to give you feedback in their own words. This tactic can help you establish your customer pain points and work on a solution.
Conclusion
As you can see, there is no one way to identify your customer pain points. You have to use multiple approaches and combine the data to get an accurate picture of your audience and the problems they are facing. It’s always worth checking out your customer personas and feedback forms regularly to make sure you’re staying in touch with your audience and creating products or services that improve their lives.
