Finding and Understanding Customer Pain Points
When you look at the market positioning of companies these days, you will find that many of them portray themselves as solutions- some for very specific pain points and others that tend to be more holistic in nature. But the core idea remains the same, to make the consumer’s life easier and convenient.
The problem here is that there are far too many entrepreneurs who have already solved the more obvious pain points and even more looking out for the remaining ones.
Pain points can exist even after they’ve been solved by others because sometimes the solutions just aren’t good enough. So essentially, it boils down to your understanding and research of the customer. If you dig deep, you can unearth the real problems to find real solutions. Otherwise, you remain a run-of-the-mill startup, who is doing something but not doing enough.
Correct identification of pain points becomes critical for startups and is practically the reason why they are born. Here are ways to get to the root of customer problems.
Be Where the Customers Are
Digital platforms have both made it easier and complicated to carry out a task. Easy because the world is at your fingertips, you can reach out to anyone and everyone. Complicated because the customer now interacts with brands on too many different platforms and it becomes quite messy to extract the right information.
However, it is absolutely necessary to be where the customers are. With the growing adoption of social media channels and other digital streams, that is exactly where the gold lies. Customers today are bold and vocal and they express their concerns, needs, expectations- you name it.
Be sure to stay on top of digital platforms and see what people are talking about. You can even see how people are reacting to other brands and if they are able to satisfy customer needs. Exploiting digital channels is easy on the budget and provides great insights into customer behaviour and expectations.
Talk to Customer-Facing Teams
The best inputs come from those who regularly interact with users, such as the sales team or customer support team. Since they are regularly in touch with so many people, over time, they understand what customers are lacking.
If you already have a team in place, be sure to involve the right members in the discussions. It is easy for many entrepreneurs to overlook the ground reality and make decisions on the basis of biased experiences or assumptions.
Even if you are yet to build your own team and are just looking for problems to solve, get in touch with those who are a part of customer-facing teams. They will have many things to share with you that they would have picked up over time and will give you the correct picture.
Use Cost-Effective Analytics Tools
You don’t have to be a data analyst to make sense of some basic data. Data analytics have become extremely cost-effective over time and are everywhere. Tools such as Google Analytics, Buzzsumo and Moz are pretty much free but give great insights into what customers over the world are searching for.
With the help of these tools, you can see what kind of keywords and content people are looking for. You can derive patterns, check website traffic, blog reposts among other things. This will give you lots of information about the focus of customers and where their priorities lie. This data can also be the basis for further market research.
Data analytics is a growing field and you will come across numerous tools if you search for them. Data is always valuable and can tell you much more than you expected. So get your hands dirty, experiment to see which ones work the best for you and validate them through some market research.
Slip Into the Customers’ Shoes
As mentioned earlier, pain points can be present even if there are apparent viable solutions in the market. A great way to understand where current solutions make customers’ lives harder instead of easier is by understanding their journey with a brand.
Now again, the customer journey has become increasingly complicated with additional touchpoints on digital platforms. But it is worth carrying out this activity and mapping the entire customer journey from start to finish to see where they could be facing an issue. It is always better to get input from actual customers, but if you haven’t reached that stage just yet, pretend to be one and see how the company will engage with you.
If you do have customers, make sure you take feedback and truly work on them. Ask them the relevant questions and figure out which pain points are not resolved. Even if a few get back to you, it’s any day better than shooting arrows in the dark.
The Final Word
As you look at endeavour to find customer pain points, remember to keep your focus on the ones relevant to you. There will invariably be many things where improvements can be made, so keep your eyes on your target.
Also, remember that this is not a one-day job. There is tons of information all around meaning more effort, more resources and more time. The reason why it is worth investing so much is that the end result can lead you to a great future with your startup. Once you find the problem you want to work out, let your creative juices flow and build something sustainable.
