When you’re swamped with the urgent and important, I can understand if diving deep into your customers’ subconscious doesn’t make it to the priority list.
But I know you value your customer as a core part of your business. I also know how important it is to reach your customers with effective messages that motivate them to take action.
So let’s start by taking some intentional time to really think about them. Because the reality is if you don’t know your customer, you can’t effectively reach them.
It all starts with getting a clear picture of who your customer is, what they want, and how your product or service can meet their needs.
I’ve made this process really achievable and simple with the Ideal Customer worksheet.
What is the Ideal Customer Worksheet?
It’s a one-pager that helps you define and understand who your customer really is.
When thinking about your ideal customer, it’s important to know what they want, what their problem is, and how they feel about it. This way you are able to target your messaging to effectively meet their needs and provide the solution they’re looking for.
This worksheet helps break it all down by prompting you with questions about your ideal customers’ background, interests, goals and even objections.
How do I fill out the Ideal Customer Worksheet?
Step 1: Fill out their name, age and location
If you were to target your product or service towards one customer, what would their name be? How old are they? And where would they live?
Step 2: Complete the background information
This is where you could think about what kind of work your customer does, how much they earn, and what stage of life they may be in. Write down as little or as much detail as you want here. Remember this is a tool to help you get a clear picture in your mind of the customer you're targeting. So if including more detail helps you visualise your customer better, just keep adding!
Step 3: Consider their interests
In order to target your messages to the places your customers are, have a think about what content they consume.
- Do they follow any influencers or listen to podcasts?
- What magazines do they read?
- What brands do they follow?
This section is particularly helpful for paid advertising. For example, inside Facebook and Instagram you can target ads to people that follow certain influencers and brands.
Step 4: What does the customer want?
Now you have an opportunity to really dig in to what it is your customer wants and how they feel about it. Hint: make sure you are thinking about what they want in relation to your product or service. Once you’ve established this, your messages can be aimed at helping your customer achieve their goals and hopefully become better versions of themselves.
Here are some examples:
- To grow their business
- To get more freedom at work
Step 5: Write down their pain points
Let’s face it, everyone is frustrated about something. And your customer is no different. Here is where you have a chance to think about your customers’ pain, and how your product or service can be the solution to their frustration.
There are two aspects of pain points to think about: the external and the internal.
In order to break it down a little, let’s imagine that you run a grocery store.
You stock food in your store that customers purchase in order to feed their family each week. This fulfils their external needs. But the reason they go to the store, and the way that they feel about their weekly shop encapsulates their internal pain.
Are they feeling stretched because they’re on a tight budget? Are they stressed because they are time poor? Are the fussy eaters in their house making them feel frustrated? These are all internal pain points that your customers are experiencing.
Once you have determined what these are, you can customise your messages that speak directly to your customers’ internal frustration. This way your customer is more likely to engage with your product or service.
As Don Miller puts it:
“Companies tend to sell solutions to EXTERNAL problems, but people buy solutions to INTERNAL problems”.
Step 5: What are your customers' objections?
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes for a second. What might be stopping your customer from engaging in your product or service?
Here are some examples:
- If this person works to a tight budget, could cost be a barrier to them?
- Maybe you haven’t been in business for a long time, could this be a barrier to them?
Take a moment to note down any objections or barriers you think your customer may have. Asking these questions will give you insight into how to help your customers’ overcome their objections, cross the line and engage in your product or service.
Can I have more than one Ideal Customer?
When filling in the worksheet, it’s important to just focus on one pain point.
When you start narrowing down how you will communicate with your customer, you want to avoid adding layers of confusion unnecessarily. Addressing too many pain points in your messaging can overwhelm your customer, leaving them unable to focus on what’s important.
If you have a product that provides multiple solutions to multiple problems, then you may need to fill in separate Ideal Customer Worksheets per issue. It’s as simple as copy and paste!
Isn’t this a Customer Persona or Avatar?
Yes, if you’ve worked with a marketing agency in the past, you may have created a Customer Persona. This is my version of a Customer Persona. I call it the Ideal Customer Worksheet because I think it’s important to do business with people you actually want to do business with. I know you’ll be happier for it.
I’ve filled in the Ideal Customer Worksheet, now what?
Now you can breathe a sigh of relief. You’re a huge step in the right direction towards knowing who your customer really is, what they want, and how to effectively connect with them.
You’ve clearly defined your customers’ wants and what’s important to them, and investigated the internal and external problems your customer may be experiencing. Now it’s time to piece it all together and form a picture in your mind of who your Ideal Customer is.
From here you can create effective messaging that will motivate your customers to take action. As you do, remember that everyone is frustrated about something, and that your product or service is the solution. So you need to make it super clear that what you’re offering is an answer to your customers’ problem.
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