Stop Solving Customer Problems—Start Creating Emotional Connections
Or, What Dill Pickle Skittles Teach Us About Buyer Motivation
Becoming an entrepreneur means identifying a problem and providing a solution, right? That's what we hear in the platitude business media: “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” All you need is a solution, a business plan, and success is within reach.
This is the dream of so many starry-eyed product builders today who have no customers.
It’s a garbage idea.
Better products alone don't create great companies. Just ask Sony about their superior Betamax video tape product.
So, if better products aren't the answer, what is? Theodore Levitt taught us decades ago: "Customers don't want a quarter-inch drill bit. They want a quarter-inch hole." His point is that people don’t want products; they want solutions.
This gets us closer to the truth, but it still misses the mark. Today's marketers emphasize benefits in addition to product features—which is important—but that often leads to generic, uninspired messages like: "You'll save time and money with our [insert product here]!"
Puke. Nobody cares. You’re pointing out a benefit, but it’s soulless and uninspiring.
You need to go a step further. You don't need to solve problems for people—you need to do more than that. You need to meet their emotional needs. You need to give them something they want to buy.
What problem do dill pickle flavoured skittles solve? Or Air Jordan version #112? Or the Kardashians? None of these solve a practical problem, but they give people something fun or interesting to experience. They provide an emotional payoff.
What problem does Instagram solve? None. When Facebook bought it, most pundits rolled their eyes at the silly little app that added filters to photos. A $1 billion valuation? It was a joke. But it worked because it entertained a bored population. It wasn’t solving a problem—it was satisfying a disillusioned, over-satisfied, ego-driven populace.
You don't need to solve problems. You need to find the emotional payoff your product provides.
My sales mentor, Tom Hopkins, taught me, "People buy emotionally and defend the purchase rationally." To sell your product, you need to create emotional desire first, and then give people the reasons to back up their decision.
I have a confession: I have a shopping problem when I’m on vacation. I find myself buying clothing that fit my vacation mood, only to regret them later. The colourful shirt that felt perfect in the bright mood of travel exploration feels gaudy and “a bit much” back in rainy Vancouver. Clearly, I’m making emotional purchases that have nothing to do with logical wardrobe needs.
Jonathan Haidt, in his book The Righteous Mind, compares the conscious mind to a rider on an emotional elephant. He says, “The mind is divided, like a rider on an elephant, and the rider’s job is to serve the elephant.” We like to think that our rational rider is in control, but more often than not, it’s the emotional elephant that leads the way. Our emotions guide our rational mind, filtering what we consider and shaping our decisions.
I can hear some business owners rejecting this, saying “But, what about more involved product purchases? Surely people are rational in B2B buying situations, right?”
Wrong. The emotions are different but just as powerful.
A few decades ago, there was a saying in business: "Nobody ever gets fired for buying IBM.” The same could be said today for Apple, Accenture, or Nvidia. The brand leaders in industries that should be driven by specs and performance are often chosen because of fear and “cover your ass” politics. People naturally worry about making decisions others could criticize.
In fact, when making significant, important decisions, emotions can play an even bigger role.
We realized this in our B2B service at Widerfunnel—our customers had emotional needs we were satisfying.
What We Really Sold
I'm going to share a secret I've never shared publicly before, one that illustrates this insight.
At Widerfunnel, we provided website experimentation services for high-traffic companies. We ran A/B tests and user testing on e-commerce sites to determine which design options increased sales the most, using statistically significant data.
So, what need were we solving for our customers?
You might say we were increasing sales, providing a high return on investment, or relieving the burden on overworked staff. Maybe we were helping clients hit their KPIs and personal targets.
Those are all benefits of our services, but they don't tell the full story.
From an emotional perspective, we were actually taking some of the burden of decision-making off our clients. We were testing and validating decisions they would otherwise make based on gut feeling. We were giving them confidence in their choices—about their website, their agency, and their chances of success.
When we realized this, we turned it into a simple, one-phrase strategy: Increasing Confidence.
That’s the emotional benefit our clients bought from us. Everything we did—marketing, sales, service delivery, customer interactions—was focused on increasing our clients’ confidence.
This focus was why we became the favourite service provider for enterprise brands.
And, you can do that too, by satisfying your customers’ most important emotional needs in your sales, product, and service.
So, whether you’re planning your next product, R&D investment, or company positioning, keep in mind the emotional payoff you’re truly offering.
We’re really talking about your Value Proposition, which I have a lot more to say about. I plan to release an in-depth Value Proposition series in the next few weeks. Subscribe now to make sure you receive it!
What’s Your Perspective?
How does this apply to your business?
What's the emotional payoff you provide? Forget about the two-inch drill bit versus the two-inch hole—what’s the feeling you're giving your customers?
Are there emotional drivers you can lean into with product or service enhancements?
