Christmas has come and gone…and even though I love the Christmas season, there’s one thing that’s always been a struggle:

Gift buying.

Last year I got my wife a few things that I THOUGHT she wanted…

I asked her about it later and she said something to the effect of:
“Yeah, they were cool gifts, but I could live without out them.”

Great.

So this year, I did things a little differently.

I really wanted to hit it out of the park!

I know my wife well enough to know what kinds of things she likes, so I asked her a direct question:

“What is it about [insert activity] that brings you the most pain on a regular basis?”

Then…

WHOOOOOSSHHH!

The flood gates spilled open, and a rush of pains spilled out.

30 minutes later I had a list of pains and challenges she had with that particular activity.

I did some research and found a few small items that would solve that pain for her.

(They cost under $20, total.)

And she loved them!

I realized that I had been assuming too much about what her pains were.

Once I had a clear understanding of what she struggled with, gift giving became much easier.

What’s also fascinating is most of the time the gift is something I never would have thought of…and almost 100% of the time it’s something I would never buy for myself.

Have you wondered why it’s always easier to buy for yourself than someone else?

It’s because you know your pains better than anyone…

And you know what will solve those pains!

But here’s the thing…often, your pains are not your users’ pains.

And the best way…

The ONLY way…

Is to ask them directly what they’re struggling with.

Included in the 30k Swipe Files is an email template you can send out to your users to help you uncover valuable feedback on your users pains.

(If you haven’t gotten your hands on these free swipe files, get ’em here: http://krall.in/30k )

You’ll find out:

– Why they didn’t sign up
– Why they DID sign up
– What they love about your service
– What they hate…

The feedback you get from these calls and emails will open your eyes to the real pains your users have.

You’ll use these pains to guide you on how to improve your product so it becomes a “need to have” instead of a “nice to have.”

A client of mine sent out this email, and sent me a message a few days later, saying:

“Aaron, I’ve sent emails asking for feedback in the past and no one ever responded. I sent out this email and already have 5 calls scheduled.”

This email works incredibly well…and it will just take a few minutes to customize and send out.

> If you don’t have this template yet, download it here for free: http://krall.in/30k

The insight you get from these conversations (even if it’s just a few of them) will uncover some golden nuggets that will increase your conversions, decrease churn and bring in more profit.

Spend a few minutes this week, customize it for your SaaS, and send it out to some (or all) of your users.

Once you have a few calls scheduled, you can use the Pain Discovery swipe file to uncover your users’ biggest pains (that’s also included in the 30k Swipe Files)

Rooting for ya,

Aaron Krall