By Pam Neely June 12, 2024
Realizing your prospects can have a big effect in your advertising and marketing and what you are promoting total. Figuring out buyer ache factors is a key a part of this.
Individuals don’t purchase a services or products simply because it’s low cost or has flashy options. Whereas these causes may affect somebody’s buy determination, they’ll in the end purchase one thing as a result of it solves an issue.
Don’t have time to eat an costly sit-down meal? Seize meals at McDonald’s.
Can’t sleep as a result of your neighborhood is noisy? Get a pair of earplugs or a white noise machine.
Uninterested in driving to the fitness center day by day? Buy an at-home exercise program on DVD.
When you perceive your prospects and their issues, you may place your services or products as the answer. And also you’ll promote much more stuff.
What are buyer ache factors?
Buyer ache factors are frequent issues your goal prospects have that your services or products solves.
We outlined just a few examples of shoppers’ ache factors above, however what issues is what your prospects’ ache factors are. You will be in the identical market with different competing merchandise, but when your product solves your target market’s ache factors differently than your rivals, goal a barely totally different viewers.
For instance:
You promote ultralight climbing boots for long-distance hikers. They need nice ankle help with minimal weight, even when they need to pay greater than they’d for normal boots. Their ache level is discovering light-weight, supportive boots.
Your competitor additionally makes boots, however they make duck boots. They promote duck boots to individuals who need a pair of trainers that can final. Their preferrred prospects are individuals who worth sturdiness. Their ache level is discovering boots that received’t disintegrate.
Your different competitor additionally sells boots, however they promote vogue boots. Their prospects should have a boot that appears nice and is in step with the present model. Their ache level just isn’t having the ability to discover a handsome boot.
See the place we’re going with this? Completely different ache factors, totally different merchandise.
Mockingly, one particular person could possibly be the perfect buyer for all these boot sellers. All of us can have a number of ache factors, relying on which conditions we discover ourselves in.
By understanding buyer ache factors, you may promote your services or products extra successfully and write convincing advertising and marketing copy. Your viewers is more likely to purchase should you can clearly articulate the way you’ll resolve their issues or ache factors.
LL Bean’s product page about their duck boots is a masterclass in the right way to use buyer ache factors to write down higher copy. Right here’s a picture from that web page. In case you have been a buyer who needed boots that final, would this persuade you to purchase these?

The 4 varieties of buyer ache factors
Buyer ache factors can often be boiled down into certainly one of 4 sorts:
1 – Monetary ache factors
The most typical ache level is worth. This buyer is on the lookout for an economical answer to their downside. The very first thing they’ll take into account is whether or not or not the product suits their price range.
Takeaway: Monetary ache level options really feel like worth.
2 – Productiveness ache factors
These prospects need merchandise that take duties off their plates. A meal planning service is an efficient instance of this. Somebody desires to create wholesome meals for the week however doesn’t have time to create a menu. The meal planner eliminates that step for them.
Takeaway: Productiveness ache level options take away a barrier to attaining a objective.
3 – Course of ache factors
This may occasionally sound just like productiveness ache factors, however these prospects wish to streamline or simplify their processes. The answer is commonly to modernize or improve what they’re at the moment doing. An enormous instance of that is on-line banking.
Takeaway: Course of ache level options supply prospects better comfort.
4 – Help ache factors
Like monetary ache factors, help ache factors can quell a buyer’s confidence. They’re involved the product received’t work out good for them. Widespread options to help ache factors are money-back ensures.
Takeaway: Help ache level options scale back the chance of purchaser’s regret.
Query: Does what you are promoting create buyer ache factors?
Earlier than we transfer on to figuring out ache factors, be aware of this. A enterprise can create a unique kind of ache level whereas making an attempt to supply an answer for an additional.
For instance, a possible buyer loves the worth of a pair of trainers. It soothes their monetary ache level. However including them to their cart and trying out takes without end. They preserve getting directed to new pages asking for extra info and pop-ups for extra gives.
Now they’ve a productiveness ache level, too.
Let’s say checkout is a breeze, however the boots don’t fairly meet expectations. They electronic mail customer support however 48 hours have handed and not using a response. Their monetary ache level was solely quickly resolved and now they’ve a help ache level.
5 methods to determine your prospects’ ache factors
Now that you simply perceive the facility of buyer ache factors, let’s present you the right way to discover the ache factors of your viewers. This manner, you’ll be capable of describe and deal with them in a approach that makes your product the no-brainer answer.
You don’t need to do all this stuff to search out frequent ache factors. Strive no less than two or three.
1. Survey your prospects
Share a survey in your social channels or in an electronic mail and ask individuals what they’re at the moment scuffling with.
Assume very fastidiously about the way you write your survey and preserve the variety of questions you ask to a minimal. Surveys with 10 questions or fewer carry out higher.
In our surveys, we regularly ask electronic mail subscribers to share their greatest electronic mail advertising and marketing problem. We are able to then create instructional content material to resolve these challenges.
As an example, we created our What to Write in Your Emails and Email List Growth Blueprint programs after receiving survey suggestions requesting assist with electronic mail copywriting and checklist progress.
Right here’s a quite simple pattern survey to get you began:
- What’s the largest downside you might have with [thing you help people with, like “public speaking,” or “tax preparation”]?
- What have you ever performed to attempt to resolve this downside?
- How nicely did that work?
- What would fixing this downside appear to be? How will your life be higher or totally different when you’ve solved this downside?
2. Ask them about ache factors in your welcome emails
Persons are usually most motivated to have interaction with you when first join an electronic mail checklist. They could even be actively on the lookout for a method to resolve their downside and may inform you rather a lot about their ache factors.
The web course internet hosting platform Thinkific asks subscribers to share what’s stopping them from creating a web based course of their automated welcome collection.
Asking a easy query in an automatic electronic mail is a simple method to study extra about your prospects’ ache factors.


The solutions to this query can present them what instructional content material they need to create to resolve buyer ache factors. Plus, they’ll write case research that specify how Thinkific helps individuals overcome frequent issues.
3. Discuss to your prospects
Digital analysis is nice, however there’s nothing like speaking to an actual buyer in particular person (or no less than by way of a Zoom name). It’s one of the best ways to find out about issues your prospects face that you simply won’t even find out about.
In case you can, attempt to begin with a few open-ended questions. The particular person you’re interviewing will really feel such as you’re having a dialog with them somewhat than simply finishing an in-person survey.
In case you can discuss to your prospects in particular person, they’ll inform you all kinds of belongings you didn’t even know to ask about. You’ll additionally get to listen to them describe their ache factors in their very own phrases – phrases that you would be able to rephrase or use verbatim in your advertising and marketing messages, web site copy, and emails.
It’s extra work to speak individually with individuals. Nevertheless, should you’re beginning a enterprise or don’t do quite a lot of direct customer support, these conversations shall be value your time. There’s an previous saying that “you don’t know what you don’t know.” Speaking to your prospects can reveal quite a bit that you simply don’t know however ought to.
4. Learn product evaluations
Product evaluations are a terrific method to find out about potential prospects’ ache factors. They’re additionally nice should you’re having bother discovering individuals to speak to or don’t have a big sufficient electronic mail checklist for a survey.
Amazon has the most important assortment of product evaluations, however test area of interest sellers, too. Pay particular consideration to the evaluations with two or three stars. These are sometimes individuals who needed to love a product or who actually wanted a product to work however have been dissatisfied with their buy.
Right here’s an instance of a assessment like this. It’s for a low-priced, moveable Bluetooth speaker. The speaker may be very extremely rated (4.5+ stars), however should you look by way of the three-star evaluations, there’s a sample. Persons are complaining in regards to the Bluetooth preliminary pairing or the machine dropping the pairing at random occasions.


These individuals won’t even know that they’ve a “ache level” about Bluetooth pairing points, however they do. They could purchase a speaker just because it has a super-easy setup and a “never-drop” Bluetooth connection.
Professional tip: Look by way of your rivals’ product evaluations.
5. Take part in Fb Teams
Social listening is a good way to analysis your viewers’s ache factors. There are many social listening instruments, however many of the free instruments concentrate on X. In case your viewers is closely targeted on X, attempt Google Alerts may also provide you with some good info.
However nothing is nearly as good as discovering a web based tribe of people who find themselves passionate a couple of matter. And nowhere is that this simpler to do than Fb Teams.
There are Fb teams about each conceivable matter below the solar. You’ll be able to search these teams to search out conversations round particular subjects. You’ll be able to even contribute concepts to those teams to see how these concepts are obtained.
In case you ask permission from the group’s admin, you may even be capable of submit a brief survey or probably ship direct messages to group members. Nevertheless, do all of this fastidiously and politely. Don’t be that one who simply crashes into a gaggle to do analysis, sends undesirable direct messages, after which leaves. You may get your self banned from the group for conduct like that.
There are, after all, different teams on-line. LinkedIn nonetheless has some energetic teams, and there are tens of hundreds of unbiased websites with on-line teams.
How you can use buyer ache factors in copywriting and content material advertising and marketing
Let’s say you’ve performed your analysis and you recognize your prospects’ ache factors. How do you apply all this?
Right here’s an instance of it in motion:
Think about you’re a social media skilled who gives hourly consulting companies to assist companies enhance their social media technique. Listed here are just a few ache factors your potential prospects may wrestle with:
- They’re too busy to submit recurrently on social media.
- They don’t know what content material to share on their social platforms.
- They know they need to be utilizing Fb adverts, however they don’t know the right way to set them up or get them to work.
- They’re uncertain the right way to develop their social following.
- They’ve a big social media viewers, however they don’t know the right way to get these followers to purchase.
Utilizing this instance, let’s say you wish to concentrate on buying prospects who need assistance with #3: Fb advert technique.
You realize {that a} frequent buyer ache level just isn’t understanding the right way to arrange a Fb advert. So that you determine to create a digital information known as 5 Easy Steps to Set Up Your First Fb Advert and use it as an incentive (aka a “freebie” or a “lead magnet”) in your sign-up form.
When individuals subscribe to your checklist, ship them the next automated email sequence:
E-mail 1: Right here’s your free information to Fb adverts!
On this electronic mail, you welcome subscribers to your electronic mail checklist and provides them your free information 5 Easy Steps to Set Up Your First Fb Advert.
E-mail 2: Why Fb adverts are one of the best ways to amass leads
This electronic mail proves that Fb adverts are value investing in in comparison with all the opposite methods your reader could possibly be doing lead era.
E-mail 3: Right here’s how I helped one enterprise earn $50,000 with Fb adverts
To display that your skilled recommendation helps individuals get outcomes, you share a case research that explains the way you helped one enterprise launch profitable Fb adverts.
E-mail 4: Need assistance launching efficient Fb adverts?
Within the last electronic mail of your collection, you promote your Fb advert companies. You clarify that you would be able to assist the reader launch efficient Fb adverts and develop their enterprise. Then, you ask them to buy a session session with you.
This whole electronic mail collection relies on a easy buyer ache level. It’s efficient as a result of it positions the enterprise’ service as an answer to that downside.
How will you utilize what you find out about buyer ache factors?
Now it’s your flip. How will you discover out your prospects’ ache factors? Or, should you already know what these ache factors are, how may you be utilizing that info in your advertising and marketing and your emails?
Inform us about it within the feedback.