The Psychology of Making Something People Love

Many people think they will make what their customers want. But, your customers will keep on surprising you.

Understanding what goes on inside your customer's mind can align your product to their wishes. It also allows you to create marketing plans to provide value to the largest group of people with your product.

A customer is a persona or a demand pattern in multiple people.

• A demand pattern is a private want that's gone from private to public.
• A want is the desire to address a lack of something you need or wish for.

People buy because they want to decrease their pain-levels or increase their pleasure-levels.

Take, for example, Uber: From a pain perspective, the public was in a desperate need for a solution to decrease the pain of using cabs.

From a pleasure part, Uber addressed the need for independence, status, and safety.  People are given the feeling that they are free to order a cab whenever they please and can be part of the VIP program. They can also view ratings of previous customers and know upfront what the costs will be.

It is easy to forget that we're selling to humans and that humans still make emotionally-charged decisions.

• We want to feel a sense of adventure.
• We want to feel significant.
• We want to feel connected to others.
• We want to feel a sense of purpose and success. 

When you're building out your solution and setting up your marketing, think about what emotional values your customers are chasing. Then make them feel it.

The eight basic emotions paired in opposites are: Joy — Sadness, Anger — Fear, Trust — Distrust, Surprise — Anticipation.

Even though people make their decisions based on emotions, most of them will have to justify their purchase at some time.

To you, this means that even though your product must tap into the emotions of your customer, customers need logic to justify their purchase.

• Do you bring your customers more gain or less pain? Ask them.
• What emotional values can you help your customer reach? Ask them what they feel when they first discovered it, when they started using it, and how they feel about it now.
• How can your customers justify buying your product? How do people explain why they use your product?