Using your customer's pain points to sell through content

A framework for writing convincing customers by referencing their current painpoints

Hi there!

Yeah, I know. I missed a week. My health took a serious hit.

Lifting my fingers alone was a struggle. Talk less about typing on the keyboard. 

In these situations, you realize what a blessing it is to have the appetite to eat.

But thankfully, I’m back to my healthy self after enduring several needle pricks to my…. whatever 😁.

Now, let’s get down to the business of today…

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I remember when my siblings and I sat with my dad as he told us stories. Some were fictional. Others were real.

But the ones that caught my attention narrated his challenges and how he overcame them. 

They struck me for three reasons:

• Gave me hope for the possibility of a great future. Because I felt that if he could make it amidst the chaos, I could too. I effectively saw myself as a hero in his story.

• Each personal experience he shared mirrored mine. It's why I remember those stories to this day.

• It made it easier for me to apply whatever tips he gave. Because his experience, compared with his current situation, proved these tips worked.

This exemplifies how stories can resonate with an audience, particularly when it mirrors their experience. It holds their attention and creates an empathetic connection with them. 

Luckily, we can replicate the same thing when writing articles.

Using the customer’s current experience to sell through content

I recently wrote an article for a SaaS brand, and I incorporated this principle to great effect. 

But first, a little background story:

The software I wrote about helps fraud investigators to collect finance-related data from financial documents like cheques and statements of accounts. Arrange them into Excel sheets. And process them to reveal trends. This all happens in seconds.

Here's a snippet from the article:

Now, I’m digging into what their “before” looks like. Each line explains current customers' pain before finding the software I’m writing for. 

If you were a fraud investigator, you’d feel like I — or my dad — was spying on you. I’m telling you in clear terms: I see your pain and empathize with you.

Now, here’s the second part:

Nothing much here. I’m continuing to communicate their current situation in grim detail. 

You’d notice I’m painting the exact picture like I was sitting next to them as they struggled to digitize and arrange a mountain of financial data each day. 

This does three things:

• Builds a connection with the reader. Because each sentence resonates with their current challenge 

• Makes my content memorable. Because the story is one they relate to. And it's only content that's remembered, that's acted upon

• Gives a common enemy for readers to focus on (I’ll talk more about the common enemy syndrome next week)

Just like my dad’s stories, I’ve been able to prove I resonate with their pain. I’ve painted what their current situation looks like. Now, I hit them with a solution:

And the next part:

You’d notice I’m using a framework:

1. Reference how they’re currently solving the pain point and the challenges attached

2. Explain why it’s not the best approach

3. Present my product

4. Explain how it solves the problem better

After reading this, I’m sure the customer would want to whip out their wallet.

But the question is:

How did I understand the customer’s situation so accurately? Mind you, I’m no mind reader. So I couldn’t have peered into their hearts and seen their struggles.

What I did was:

• Rely on sales and customer success for the stories

• Do knee-deep research on the customer. Think social media and forums

• Think like the customer

Relying on Sales and customer success for customer stories

The closest people to your customers are the sales and customer success teams. They interact with them daily and are the first people your customers vent to. 

So, they’re in the best place to tell you details of your customer.

Pro Tip:

Rely on the sales team for what the situation looks like for the customer before they get your product. And the customer success team for what it looks like after they’ve purchased your product. 

You can either:

1. Be present during customer calls

2. Get call recordings

3. Interview customers yourself

Do knee-deep research on the customer

It's okay to want to gain a deep understanding of the topic. But more importantly, you must know your target customers deeply. Why?

Because they're the ones you're writing for. 

Not yourself. Not your client. Not even your content manager. You're writing for your target customer.

Aside from researching social media platforms and forums, I've found reading through authoritative industry publications gives you unique insights about your customers. 

How?

They give you an overview of the customer's current situation and what the idea is supposed to look like.

So, you can plug your product as a tool for helping them achieve the ideal situation.

Think like the customer

Write with the customer in mind.

In fact, become the customer. 

Doing so makes you see things from the customer's standpoint. Relate with their pinpoints. And write convincingly about it.

What I'm saying in essence is…

Know what your customers are currently experiencing. Discover how your product solves their challenge. Then work it into the article.

By doing so, you're not just giving them a solution. You're also bringing some cash in through the doors.

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