Here are a few things I’ve learned about market research, the customer avatar, and customer language from working with so many experts in the field.
Over the last 10 years, I've gathered ‘avatar' and ‘market research' methods and strategies from Ryan Levesque, to Eben Pagan to Rich Schefren and many more in between…
Here's a Quick Market Research Checklist
1. Understand the problem you are actually solving first.
In other words, what is the MAIN desire of the market?
If you are in the weight loss industry, what do you help someone do?
You don’t help someone “lose weight”.
You might; help women lose 50 pounds of belly fat after having a baby.
That’s the precise information you need first to do proper market research on your customer.
Every time I’m helping clients with their marketing…I get them to tell me the specific details. This will speed up your market research 10x because you know what to type into Google to start researching.
“how to lose baby fat” is more potent than “how to lose weight”
2. When you ask people about their frustrations, you can then be VERY specific.
Such as; “What frustrates you the most about trying to lose the extra baby fat?”
Talk about an emotional question.
Imagine what you get back from the market research audience.
3. Ask what they’ve ALREADY TRIED.
This is where you will get a LOT of gold that come in the form of objections to anything ‘new’, frustrations, emotions and so on.
You want to know what ANGERS them. Because this will help you write copy that converts.
Knowing this information also gives you insight on How to Write Headlines So You Can Position Your Product Better
Bottom line; if you help them throw rocks at their enemies (the stuff that didn’t work), you become a trusted advisor.
4. Ask what THEY think the solution is.
In this market research question, you will most likely get irrational answers. And that’s what you want. You want to know the irrational side to their thinking.
Because the irrational language is what they’re searching for;
“I want to lose 50 pounds of baby fat by the end of the month so I can get back into my bikini before I go on vacation”
The key here, is not to state something false…but to ENCOURAGE their dream…be the understanding person. Again, if you know what their irrational expectations are, you can speak to that in your copy/advertising.
For Example – Imagine If I Said;
“we know that most people who start online businesses want to become rich in 30 days and quit their job. If you’re here reading/watching this now, you already know that’s a stretch for most of us. We understand it takes a bit more work and time to get an online business to the point of replacing our job. The good news is, it doesn’t need to be a struggle. We don’t need to figure things out on our own. There are frameworks and strategies that when applied, are proven to speed up the process and eliminate the overwhelm…”
ANYHOO…
Here's A Bonus Market Research Tip
5. Use the empathy map to help you understand what to look for in the language of the customer.
Just google “empathy map”. Download the worksheet.
You will ‘step into’ your customer’s head this way.
Here's a youtube video explaining the empathy map – I dunno this woman…but I like the name of her avatar 😉