A Product for Various Pains

They say you should create a product for a very specific pain “point”.

But maybe you should create a product for various pains, instead.

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Here’s a simple formula for charting buying momentum, in a potential buyer:
Struggle + Attraction > Anxieties + Default Options.

It goes like this, in full:

When presenting a product that relieves a struggle, the buyer will move away from their current place of pain, and toward your solution, if the Struggle is high enough, and the attraction to your solution is high enough, that together they will overcome the back-pedalling forces of their anxieties (objections) and the satisfactory nature of their default, current options.

If the struggle isn’t felt strongly enough…
If the attraction they feel for your solution isn’t high enough…
If the anxieties they feel for your solution are too high…
If the default options are good enough for now… You won’t get a sale.

Given all this, you could create a product (a solution) that relieves a specific struggle. But what if your product is attractive for many pain points at a time, for different struggles, and for all of them, there’s no suitable default alternative?

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A coffee shop isn’t just there for a coffee fix. When you want to be among other people, when you long to be in the zone, when you crave a treat, when you need to create a ritual for your creativity, a coffee shop does the job.

A book is awfully expensive when you consider that you’ll need to read it, but no, a book doesn’t always get hired to be read. When you want to make yourself a promise that you will become better, when you long to be part of a new “in” group, when you feel the need to be inspired, when you’re excited for the future, buying a recommended book does the job.

A piece of software isn’t just made to optimize a process. When you want to be using the tool that your hero uses, when you hope to become professional, when you want to make a high-status career move as a decision-maker, when you want to be reminded of what good taste feels like, installing a nice piece of software in your practice does the job.

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When using the lens that a person wants movement on a struggle, you can see that you’re better off creating a surprising product that is the answer to many disparate pains. Your product will be the surprising answer to age-old needs.

You’ll be doing something that others don’t do, the others who are creating obviously prescriptive products. They create stilted products that cost a lot to bring to market, but your product will have its own word-of-mouth. Your product will be obvious.