Identify customer pain points before you sell the solution

When I ask founders, “What’s the pain you solve?”, the answer often skips the real issue. They talk about features, not feelings. They list what their product does instead of what their customer experiences.

The problem? Customers don’t buy a list of functions. They buy the relief of seeing a problem finally resolved. If you want to connect and convert, you must first identify customer pain points. That’s the only way to make your story feel real, urgent, and relevant.

Why identifying customer pain points matters

Every founder knows their product inside out. You see the mechanics, the technology, the design. But your customer only feels the “before state”: the messy inbox, the repeated delays, the constant second-guessing. That’s what occupies their mind.

If you can identify customer pain points with clarity, you unlock three big shifts:

• Clarity in communication: your homepage and pitch stop wandering and land faster.
• Efficiency in sales: you spend less time convincing and more time closing.
• Trust in your brand: customers feel you understand them, often better than they could explain themselves.

Think of it this way: a doctor doesn’t sell medicine by listing ingredients. They start by describing the pain the patient feels. The patient nods, trusts, and listens to the cure. Your brand works the same way.

How to identify customer pain points in practice

The first step is to step outside your own head. You don’t need a complex model. You need sharper observation. Here’s a simple process:

1. Write down the moment before: What is your customer doing right before they search for you? Be specific — one concrete situation.
2. Note the emotion: Stress, pressure, doubt, frustration. Real words they would use, not polished marketing language.
3. Translate into a problem: Frame that emotion as a problem your brand solves.
4. Shape a message: Build a headline or pitch that mirrors their words back to them.

Example: Instead of saying “Our tool centralises your analytics,” say:
“Stop hopping between dashboards. One clear view, faster decisions.”

Both describe the same thing. But only one mirrors the pain.

Different pains, different industries

To show how universal this is, let’s apply the same process in different contexts:

• SaaS startup: The operations lead is juggling three tools to track one project. Pain point? Fragmentation and wasted time.
• Creative studio: A team keeps rewriting their pitch because no one agrees on the story. Pain point? Misalignment and lost confidence.
• E-commerce brand: A customer scrolls through endless skincare products, overwhelmed by jargon. Pain point? Confusion and decision fatigue.
• Non-profit: A donor hesitates because they don’t trust where their money goes. Pain point? Doubt and lack of transparency.

Every case starts with the same discipline: describe the moment, feel the frustration, and speak it back clearly.

Where to find the right words

You don’t have to invent this language. You already have it, but you just need to collect it.

• Customer calls: Record and transcribe three recent conversations. Highlight phrases customers use for their frustrations.
• Support tickets: Review the most common complaints or questions. Tag the emotions behind them.
• Reviews: Scan 20 reviews (yours and competitors’) and pull exact wording from customers describing their struggles.
• Surveys: Ask one sharp question: “What’s the hardest part of [problem you solve]?”
• My favourite: A survey boosted via Meta ads. I set up different surveys every now and then to get answers to questions like this. I target people close to our core audience and sent them to a survey built in typeform. This is a very easy and cost effective way to get answers quickly.

This becomes your raw material. A live database of pain points in your customer’s own words. That database is more powerful than any brainstorm.

A framework for going deeper

Identifying customer pain points isn’t something you do once. It’s a habit. And that’s exactly what the Brand Clarity framework supports.

Inside it, you’ll find 130+ guided questions that help you:

• Define the “before state” your customer lives in.
• Shape your positioning around those pains.
• Translate emotion into a brand story that resonates.

It’s not theory. It’s a structure that pulls you out of features and into the real connection. When you know the exact pain you solve, you don’t just write better copy — you build a stronger brand foundation.

The result: Return on intuition (ROI)

When your words reflect what your customer feels, marketing shifts. You spend less on campaigns that explain too much. Sales calls get shorter because the recognition is instant. Trust builds faster because people feel seen.

That’s what I call Return on Intuition. Using empathy and structure to guide your brand, instead of shouting louder or adding more features.

Your next step

Take ten minutes today. Write down three moments your customer experiences before they discover you. Choose one. Build a single headline around it. Test it against your current pitch.

If you want a framework to guide you through this process — step by step, question by question — discover Brand Clarity. It helps you identify customer pain points, sharpen your message, and set a clear course for your brand.