Pain points versus pleasure points…

I’m sure you've had a marketer tell you, “Hey, you need to figure out what your customer's pain points are, the problems that they have, and point out to them how your product or your service solves that problem for them.” 

But for a lot of businesses that have more of a luxury product, that isn't actually a necessity, this can be really difficult. Say, for instance, you produce super high-quality Australian-made leather handbags. Most people need a handbag, but in most cases they certainly don't need a $500 handbag.

Your customer can quite easily go somewhere else and get a bag for $100 or even less. Your bag, though, is the type of product that someone is going to buy as an investment or as a celebration when they're moving into a new phase in their life. Say, for instance, someone has just graduated from university, or they've gotten married or they've just had a child. They are looking for a product that is going to bring pleasure to their life and is going to be able to mark that milestone for them. An example of this is the ring that I bought myself when I started my business.

Instead of focusing on a problem or a pain point that your customer has, we're going to focus on a pleasure point. So when we're going through our customer's motivations, instead of saying…

• “I feel frustrated when”

• “I don't like it when”

Instead, we're going to look at…

• “I love it when”

• “I am fascinated by”

• “The activities that I love are”

 Can you see how this is a much more positive way to work out what your customer’s motivations are? 

And it's also a way that to sell a luxury product that is not necessarily solving a massive problem for someone. It's just a really lovely thing that they want to buy for themselves.

So next time you're sitting down and working out your target markets, maybe have a look at pleasure points instead of pain points.