Stop ‘Thinking Like a User’ and Start ‘Feeling Like a User’!

In a world where marketers are going all-in and trying to sell their wares as if it were Vegas - know this: emotions beat rational choices every time.  Brands that understand what scares or bothers us the most and then provide the solution become our go-tos in an age of overwhelming options.

Digital Marketing General Product Marketing

Avinoam Boaron 11 July 2023

In a world where marketers are going all-in and trying to sell their wares as if it were Vegas – know this: emotions beat rational choices every time. 

In fact, 66% of customers expect companies to understand their needs. Brands that understand what scares or bothers us the most and then provide the solution become our go-tos in an age of overwhelming options.

So trust your gut (and ours) when we say that taking the emotional route is key to persuading those out there who can be persuaded!

In this article, we’ll dive into what it means to feel like your users and how to utilize their emotions to solve their problems with your product or service.

What Does Feeling Like Your Users Mean?

To understand your users, it is crucial to know what they want and why they want it. This means connecting with their emotions rather than just focusing on your product features and hoping for the best. 

A successful marketing campaign requires going beyond the basics and finding the right emotional trigger to engage your target audience. 

• Ever wonder why the big brands are slaying the competition? It’s all about tapping into our deepest emotions – fear, desire, and, yes, even lust. 

Take IKEA as an example. It’s not just their furniture that lures us in; it’s the pride we know we’ll feel when we assemble it ourselves. By placing the consumer’s emotions at the front, they develop a relationship that drastically enhances brand loyalty and equity. 

• So, forget thinking outside the box – Let’s start feeling outside the box and make a splash that your target audience won’t forget.

How to Feel Like Your Users – Winning Tips

Let’s outline some steps to start understanding your users better.

Keep in mind that this process is not necessarily linear but rather circular. Consider these steps as a general framework to initiate the process.

Map Out Your Target Audience

To truly empathize with your users, begin by delving into the pain points your product or service aims to solve. This can bring you closer to understanding their needs and aspirations.

Consider: who are the people that stand to gain the most from your app, product, service, or offer? Gathering this valuable data will provide invaluable insights into your target audience.

This step should be relatively intuitive. For example, if you’re promoting a meditation app, your intended audience is likely people who suffer from anxiety, stress, or insomnia.

Identify and Address Your Audience’s Pain Points

Conduct user research to gain a deep understanding of your audience’s pain points. 

Empathy plays a crucial role in truly grasping the desires and needs of your users, requiring you to put aside preconceptions and connect with their emotions. 

To accomplish this, begin by investigating your target audience’s online communities. These can be found on Reddit, Facebook, TikTok, or other social media platforms that promote open dialogue among users. By using these communities as a guide, you can identify the obstacles they encounter in their professional and personal lives.

Develop User Personas

You’ve researched your market and gained valuable insights into your audience’s emotions. Now, it’s time to put it all together. How, you ask? Well, it’s as simple as creating personas.

Remember our meditation app? Try to think about someone you know really well who suffers from insomnia, stress, or anxiety. Imagine sitting down with them for a coffee and asking yourself: How do these conditions affect their daily lives? Are they unable to relax and focus on their work? Delve into these pain points and identify the deeper emotions that stand behind them to start developing your user personas.

Present Your Solution 

Now that you have a solid foundation of knowledge and insights regarding your target audience’s deep emotions, issues, and desires, it’s time to present them with a solution in the form of your service or product. 

• To do so, you must think outside the box, or better yet – FEEL outside the box. Personalize each message to address your users’ emotions. This will help you establish a genuine connection and ultimately drive better results. 

Remember to be specific and tap into real-life situations that occur when your users experience these pain points. 

Using our meditation app as an example again, a great idea would be crafting an ad that depicts the exact moment when your user turns off the light and starts feeling anxious about falling asleep. It’s a micro-moment many can relate to, as having insomnia, anxiety, or stress is not just about the condition itself; it’s about the daily struggles and frustrations accompanying it. 

After capturing the users’ attention, you can showcase your product to let them know there’s a solution to what they’re experiencing. In our case, the app’s introductory meditation course could be perfect for users just starting out and comes with a 7-day free trial.

Key Takeaways

Feeling like your users is crucial for connecting with them on a personal level. By conducting effective customer research and analyzing your audience’s communities, you can dive deeper into your users’ specific emotions and foster long-term brand loyalty. Click here to read more about personalized marketing and make sure to check out Moburst’s comprehensive suite of digital marketing services, focused on growing your brand.

Remember, customer-centric companies have been shown to be 60% more profitable than those that aren’t. Prioritizing emotionally intelligent marketing strategies increases the likelihood of success in today’s competitive marketplace and strengthens your reputation and business results in the long term.

Best of luck; we believe in you!

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Avinoam Boaron

Avinoam is the VP of Creative at Moburst, where he orchestrates the magical creativity that defines our brand. With deep expertise in creative strategy and performance, Avinoam crafts user-centered stories that empower users to feel like the heroes of their own journeys. When he's not conjuring top-notch creatives, you'll find him channeling his inner warrior through beloved hobbies like MMA and rugby.

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