5 shortcuts to find persona pain points
Crafting messaging to address pain points is simple enough… when they’re listed out for you. But what if you don’t have them, or what if you aren’t satisfied with existing documentation?
As a marketer, you have two options:
- Go through an in-depth brand analysis, likely with an external agency
- Find creative ways to get them yourself
Here are some quick and easy ways you can find pain points with minimal effort.
1. Read your reviews
Depending on your business model, you might have reviews on your website through Yotpot, on your Google profile, or in Yelp. You can also find (sometimes anonymous) reviews in forums.
Do you see any trends in what people like and dislike about your product? Going straight to the source helps you uncover people’s true feelings.
2. Leverage surveys
Take a look at existing survey results. Is there any insight into why people chose your product and the problems it helped them solve?
If not, you could pretty easily run surveys on your own. Ask questions about why people chose your product, what it solves, and what helped them make their decision.
3. Read form submissions
Does your website generate leads through forms? Read the comments section to get a better feel for the problems they have and solutions they seek.
You could also, in the future, include some form fields that give you more data. You might ask: “What do you need help with?” with a dropdown menu of options.
4. Read webinar questions
If your company conducts webinars to generate leads, see if you can watch recordings or export the comments. People are bound to ask questions around the pain they are feeling.
5. Conduct interviews
Talk to your sales teams, customer support, and other customer-facing roles. You might ask them:
- What are the most common reasons people reach out? Does this differ between persona a, b, and c?
- What do people hate about competitors that we do better?
- What are the most common things that convince people to buy?
6. Perform keyword research
Take a look at the keywords you rank for, what your competitors target, or what paid terms generate conversions. You might find some common descriptors (like “fastest”, “most reliable”, or “in six-months”) that can help you understand what your target market is looking for.
What does a true persona analysis look like?
These methods won’t work for everyone. For instance, if you work with a newer brand, you might not have the luxury of tapping into existing customer information. And larger brands might not be keen on taking shortcuts for persona work.
The alternative is going through a formal persona analysis — or outsourcing the process to specialists.
How it works: specialists will conduct workshops with your team, perform user testing, and conduct thorough user research. They could run surveys to large groups of people, use smaller focus groups to zero in on behavior, or purchase third-party data.
Brand agencies and UX researchers have the resources to go above and beyond the basics. But, they will be much more costly and time-consuming than the initial methods covered.
