Sadists everywhere have long been hawking the old lie ‘no pain, no gain’. But when it comes to B2B marketing, there might be something to it.
In every process, there are pain points. Small parts or areas where things don’t work as smoothly as they maybe could or should. Pain points stick in customers’ minds, so when they’re in the market for something new, they always take centre stage.
Understanding the pain points of your own offering and those of your competitors helps you refine products and services and helps your marketing resonate better by tackling issues your customers want to hear about.
There are several good ways to gather data on pain points:
1. Ask potential and existing customers directly
OK, this one is pretty obvious. But it does take planning to ask in a systematic way and track the results. You can survey pain points they have with your competitors, although tread carefully when opening the floor to existing customers for issues they have with your own offering. Nevertheless, it’s valuable information, and when handled sensitively, it has the added benefit of showing you’re proactive and invested in improving their experience.
2. Consult your sales and support teams
Nobody is going to be closer to your customers’ pain points than those who talk to them daily about the kinds of issues they face. Harnessing the knowledge and engaging the assistance of sales and support teams in the creation of marketing materials is a smart use of resources and spreads useful learning internally.
3. Play internet detective
If you care less for the direct approach, there’s a lot of valuable feedback that can be gathered from a little internet sleuthing. Review websites, industry forums and online communities and social media pages can offer a rich vein of unvarnished opinions and honest takes on what your customers struggle with.
4. Commission or run research
If other channels aren’t yielding the information you need, you may need to take things into your own hands. Qualitative customer research – such as industry surveys or running workshops – can help you gather tailored data where you set the agenda and control all the relevant variables.
Whether you’re interested in running surveys or competitor research or are looking for a bit of inspiration on how to leverage insights you’ve already gathered, our team are here to help. To ensure your marketing cuts to the heart of what your customers care about, get in touch today.
Featured image by Steven Wright on Unsplash.
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