Key Insights
No matter which industry you’re in, the issue of customer experience is likely your focus area for 2022 and beyond.
Customer experience was rising to the surface, even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the disruptions and uncertainties brought on by multiple lockdowns has made one thing very clear: people want to be heard.
This concept forms the core of customer experience.
People want to be seen and appreciated by the companies they buy from. They want these companies to alleviate their pain points and offer solutions that are tailor-made for their needs.
Solving customer pain points becomes a critical factor of success in this context.
A research by PwC highlights that 32% of customers will walk away from a brand after only one bad experience.
Excellent brand experience is the key to happy customers. And to make them happy, you need to know their pain points.
Businesses, whether big or small, must put all their energies in solving customer pain points. And as they make way for a frictionless experience, they will benefit with better retention and acquisition rates.
Uncovering Customer Pain Points
From concerns on pricing to product queries, brands must manage to successfully solve their customer’s pain points.
If you want your product or service to carve a niche in the market, these approaches will enable you to recognize why your customers are dissatisfied.
1. Asking the Right Questions
A common example of how companies identify customer pain points is by asking them for their feedback, generally in the form of a survey.
While such surveys are targeted to obtain coveted insights from customers, in many cases, these go unfilled.
A prime reason for your customer’s unresponsiveness might have to do with the way you have asked the questions.
Your surveys need to be designed to include open-ended questions that give your customers a chance to elaborate on their expectations. It’s only when you ask the right answers that you will get the insights you are looking for.
As a thought starter, here are some questions that can help you in designing your survey:
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What problems were you trying to solve when you first came to know about our product?
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What are the top three benefits that you have received since you began using (product name)?
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What will you likely use as an alternative if (product name) is no longer available?
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Which features would you like further improvements on?
2. Greater Involvement of the Sales Team
Focusing on customer pain points also requires your concentration on lost customers. Because behind every lost customer is a crucial pain point that went unresolved.
You may resort to digital marketing tools to glean customer data but a more effective way is to get your sales team involved.
The first step is for your sales team to note down their observations after each sales pitch that was unsuccessful.
Coupled with customer surveys, these insights can help you decide on the direction to take for your product.
Here are some questions that can assist your sales team:
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What were the pain points shared by the prospective customer?
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What were the product features that the prospect did not like?
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What would have helped the prospect from turning down the product?
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Was the product compared to a competitor’s offering?
3. Qualitative Market Research
Qualitative research focuses on obtaining detailed responses from customers where they can explain their problem in detail. It is usually favored by companies as it leaves little room for subjectivity.
While quantitative research might get you data for specific queries, qualitative research can help you get to the drivers behind those questions.
Since no two customer pain points are the same, qualitative research allows customers to fully explain their pain point, enabling you to take stock of the ones which are common and the ones which are seriously blocking your growth trajectory.
4. Checking Online Reviews
Monitoring what your customers have to say about your product or service on social media is a great way of identifying customer pain points.
You can take it up a notch by browsing reviews of leading review sites. These platforms are a rich repository of customer grievances and can go a long way in uncovering pain points.
Once you collect data from these review sites, head to community forums.
Forums are a great way to collect suggestions that can help you better project your product to your customers. Additionally, have a vetting process in place to find out if the review and the reviewer are genuine or not.
5. Evaluating the Competition
Despite your best efforts, some buyers will still be out of your reach. This usually happens when your brand messaging does not resonate with their needs.
Watching the market and your competitors can help you take a different approach. When you analyze the market, you can gain finer details about the pain points that you have missed.
How to Solve Customer Pain Points
93% of businesses agree that customers tend to spend more money with brands that they feel connected to.
When you make your customers feel heard, they are more likely to stick with your brand.
Now that you have learnt how to identify customer pain points, your marketing, and sales teams need to create creative and engaging collateral that leverages these pain points and draws emotional responses.
1. Find Out Your Buyer
You don’t want to spend your time and energy on prospects who won’t ink the deal. It is essential to find the economic buyer as quickly as possible.
2. Tailor Your Solutions
You need to present your solution or product in such a way that it solves their specific problems.
Personalization is the key here.
Address their name, their company, and any specific concept they usually use to describe their pain points. These can then be incorporated into your solution.
3. Using Your Prospect’s Language
Using your prospective customer’s language is a psychological technique that can go a long way in building trust in the partnership.
Your success rate will be much higher if you use the same terminologies that your prospects use rather than trying to appear impressive by using a lot of jargon.
4. Automate Internal Processes
You can reduce your costs and improve productivity by creating seamless internal processes. For instance, leverage your help desk software to reroute specific problems to the relevant teams.
This saves your customer’s time, leading to better appreciation for your product. You can also make use of in-built automation to maximize workflows.
5. Revisit Your Strategy
When 9 out of 10 customers prefer seamless integrations between communication channels, your business will benefit from having the capabilities of a customer success team.
Such teams will offer a 360-degree view of your customer data, enabling your sales team to collaborate better and offer more personalized experiences.
Wrapping Up
Customer pain points and the knowledge on how to identify such pain points has never been an easy task. While it is easy to assume where they are occurring, you need to dig deeper to truly address them.
But when you align your product or service with customer pain points, your customers find more reasons to do business with you, putting you ahead of the game.
Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when addressing customer pain points. What will be more effective is to find unique solutions that fit your customers’ specific needs.
