Have you ever examined your customers’ journey from interest to conversion and noticed significant gaps between cart additions and completed checkouts? Well, these gaps can be caused by what the industry defines as “customer pain points” — little drawbacks that steer customers away.
Understanding your customers goes beyond just offering a product or service. It’s about walking in their shoes, feeling their frustrations, and actively addressing the hurdles they encounter.
In this blog post, we will break down customer pain points and highlight their significance. We’ll also provide some real-life examples of pain points and share some tips on overcoming them.
Customer pain points refer to those specific instances where customers encounter issues, inconveniences, or glitches that hinder their interaction with a product or service. These moments hold considerable influence over how customers perceive your company — they can influence how customers compare your products to those of your competitors.
Understanding customer pain points can help you identify areas for improvement. Here are a few pointers that highlight the importance of addressing customer pain points.
Pain points should be an all-around business department concern. Fostering a customer-centric company culture where customers feel heard should always be your number one goal.
Aside from having the marketing and sales teams address customer pain points in their communication strategies, product management should also be involved.
🧩 For example, in a product-led growth (PLG) model, solving customer pain points first and providing value through the product are the pillars of a PLG approach.
Pain points are as varied and distinct as the individuals encountering them. They range from worries about high costs and subpar products to inquiries about broken links or unsatisfactory customer experiences.
So how can one successfully pinpoint them? Here are five ways to effectively identify customer pain points.
Qualitative market research goes beyond numbers. It involves engaging with customers and inviting them to share their feedback in their own words. This differs from quantitative research, which often involves rating items on a scale.
Unlike quantitative surveys, which limit responses to predefined topics, qualitative research allows customers to express exactly what bothers them about a product. This approach creates opportunities to uncover pain points that might not have been on your radar.
Consider conducting qualitative research externally. Outsourcing could be a viable option if you lack the capabilities to run this type of research in-house. Elisa Montanari, head of organic growth at Wrike, shared her view on why this is such a crucial step:
“You can read all the research documentation you want — the best way to find and confirm pain points is to reach out and talk to your target market directly. If you can’t find your market, that could indicate a problem. If they won’t speak with you, that could indicate a problem. You need to dig in to find those nuances, and underlying factors driving pain points you can’t get from a survey. Confirm or refute your assumptions and theories before you build the wrong solution for misaligned pain points.”
Proactive listening is a cornerstone for revealing customer pain points. Instead of just hearing customers out when they voice concerns, it is essential to engage with them and strive to resolve their problems before they reach out to you.
🤳 By monitoring social media platforms and review sites, you can tap into the broader sentiment around your brand.
Frontline teams like sales and customer support interact directly with customers. Initiating open discussions with these teams can offer valuable insights into the challenges customers face, their concerns, and the common issues that arise.
If possible, aim to centralize all customer communication (customer service, sales, marketing) on a single platform. This provides transparency among teams and contributes to a clearer understanding of customers.
Regular meetings or brainstorming sessions with sales and customer support teams can help reveal pain points that customers might not openly express. Albert Kim, VP of talent at Checkr, explains how important these meetings are:
“At Checkr, consulting with different teams is essential to solving our clients’ hiring pain points, from inefficient to biased hiring practices. While these pain points are well-known, understanding their nuances and how they apply to specific clients requires direct conversations. For these, we rely on our sales and customer support teams, who interact with clients daily, and provide valuable insights into these issues. By talking to them, we can better help our clients and improve our services.”
Keeping a close eye on your competitors can provide valuable insights into customer pain points that you might have overlooked. After all, they’re targeting the same audience as you and likely making some mistakes along the way.
🕵️♂️ Review your competitors’ social media channels, websites, and customer reviews, and pay attention to what their customers are complaining about. Use competitive analysis tools like Semrush or BuzzSumo to gather data on market trends and customer preferences.
After gathering solid feedback on your customers’ pain points, delving deeper into the data it generates provides a richer perspective.
If you’re not already doing so, consider keeping tabs on metrics like:
A customer pain point template can help you identify the most pressing pain points by providing a structured framework for the following aspects.
Use the below template to gather data and analyze your customers’ pain points. Adapt it to suit your needs and ensure that you’re addressing what truly matters to your customers.
Say you’ve conducted the above customer pain point analysis and compiled a provisional report.
If you operate in the business-to-business (B2B) landscape, the following list of customer pain points summarizes the challenges your clients face on a regular basis:
Positioning pain points represent businesses’ difficulties with differentiating themselves from competitors. They can also arise when businesses struggle to effectively reach their target audience.
Here are some positioning challenges that can impact a company’s strategic efforts:
Financial pain points represent challenges businesses experience when managing their finances and assets. These pain points can hinder financial stability and impact the overall business health score.
Here are some everyday instances of financial pain points:
Employees are central to any business. When employee-related challenges arise, they can trigger ripple effects across various business dimensions.
Examples of such problems include the following:
Process pain points are related to inefficiencies in a company’s customer engagement strategies. These weaknesses not only impact customers but can also harm the company’s support team.
The pain points linked to processes might involve:
Productivity pain points arise when a business experiences time-wasting inefficiencies that stand in the way of increasing profits.
Examples of productivity pain points include:
Once you better understand your clients’ pain points, it becomes more straightforward to address them effectively.
Here, we’ve compiled seven typical pain point examples identified by both small businesses and enterprises. We’ve also included some actionable tips for each.
⌛ Scenario: Customers face delayed response times from the company’s support team when seeking help with their inquiries or issues.
Prompt and efficient customer support is integral for maintaining customer satisfaction, loyalty, and positive brand perception. Delayed responses can lead to frustration, erode trust, and potentially result in customers seeking out alternatives.
Here’s how to solve slow customer support response time:
📡 Scenario: Customers cannot reach the company’s support team on their preferred communication channel.
Providing accessible support is crucial for customer retention. When customers can easily reach out for assistance, it shows that your company values their needs. If customers are left hanging without support, they might start to feel neglected and unimportant.
Here are some ways to enhance support team availability:
🤬 Scenario: Customers experience unprofessional behavior from the company’s customer support representatives during their interactions.
Customers immediately feel disappointed when a customer service rep treats them in a rude or unprofessional way, and eventually, they stop being loyal to your company.
Consider these suggestions to address your support reps’ less-than-ideal behavior:
🛍️ Scenario: Customers experience varying levels of quality in the offerings provided by the company.
Inconsistency in product and service delivery can have devastating consequences, including negative reviews and a gradual decline in the company’s market reputation.
Here are some targeted solutions to elevate consistency in product and service quality:
📚 Scenario: The company lacks sufficient knowledge and experience among its workforce to accommodate its customers’ needs.
When employees lack adequate skills and understanding, tasks take longer to complete, and errors can accumulate.
If you’re dealing with a lack of expertise within your company, here are some approaches you can adopt:
🛒 Scenario: In B2B transactions, the buying process can become complicated owing to complex steps and unclear stages.
Neglecting user-friendliness and knowledge gaps can harm the conversion rate. Customers struggling to navigate or find information may simply give up, which could result in lost deals and a negative perception of your company.
Here’s how to overcome a complicated buying procedure:
🎯 Scenario: The products or services offered by the company do not match the distinct requirements of its customers.
Providing one-size-fits-all solutions can result in customers leaving in search of better options. The mismatch between what’s offered and what customers truly need or want can trigger a cycle of dissatisfaction.
Here are three actionable insights into tailoring solutions to your customers’ needs:
Building lasting relationships starts with grasping and resolving customer pain points. From recognizing challenges to actively addressing your customers’ pain points, one thing is clear — relying solely on empathy isn’t enough.
Actively listen to your customers and monitor your competitors to uncover and address critical concerns. Based on customer feedback, take proactive steps to constantly improve your products and services. Seize the moment — transform your customer interactions by turning insights into action today.
Iustina is a curious copywriter with an analytical mind and a demonstrated history in the advertising industry. She likes mixing words with data and is passionate about human behavior. When she's not at her work desk, you'll probably find her enjoying refreshing tea flavors, spilling stories on paper, or binge-watching true-crime documentaries.
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