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Sometimes, customers may be interested in your product or service, but if it seems too complicated or difficult to understand, they may not follow through with a purchase. Conveying information in a simple, concise and fun way can help educate the customer without the need for a long, complicated or boring explanation.
Whether you publish an FAQ page or create a short explainer video, it’s important to keep your customer interested while making sure they understand the nuances of your product or service. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share 12 effective approaches to customer education any business leader can leverage.
Describe How the Product Can Help Them
Not every customer is interested in your product. However, they are interested in themselves. Over-explaining the product may lead to information overload and losing the sale entirely. It’s best to focus on painting a mental picture of what the customer’s life may look like when they buy your product. Once they’ve mentally bought in, then provide all relevant information needed to succeed in using your product. – Josh (JetSet) King Madrid, NFTMagazine.com | NFT Magazine
Simplify the Message
The best way to approach customer education is to simplify the message. The worst mistake you can make is thinking that sounding complex will add credibility. Simple messaging is key in today’s marketing climate where customers want to understand the product instantly. If they do not understand instantly and with ease, they will move on. – King Holder, PROCUSSION
Speak Your Consumer’s Language
Be mindful of how your target customer is already thinking of and describing the topic. For example, in the cannabis and psychedelics space, clients often want to represent their product or service from a professional perspective. However, consumers are more likely to search “best dab vape” than “leading cannabis concentrate vaporizer.” You can’t capture those consumers without speaking like them. – Evan Nison, NisonCo
Use Metaphors
Metaphors work well in most instances. We use metaphors to explain PR versus marketing, why PR can help your business and all sorts of nuances that clients usually end up experiencing during their campaigns but need simplified before embarking on such a big journey. – Victoria Kennedy, Marisa Johnson
Put Yourself in the Customer’s Shoes
Lay out everything important that there is to know about your service or products. If you were a customer, think about what you’d like to know or what questions you’d ask before buying a product or using a certain service. – Christian Anderson (Trust’N), Lost Boy Entertainment LLC
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Ask for Feedback
Invite customers to provide feedback during the onboarding phase. When you’re a leader in the company, it is imperative to incorporate both positive and negative feedback and use it as leverage to improve the customer education experience. – Tim Haldorsson, Lunar Strategy
Remember the Five Senses
There is a saying in media: It takes five times for someone to recognize something as familiar, and once they do, they are more likely to buy from you and trust you. It is best to use as many senses as possible. Have them hear it, see it, taste it, feel it or smell it through radio shows, podcasts, audiobooks, commercials, ads, in-person events, scratch and sniffs, textile squares and more. – Susan Johnston, New Media Film Festival®
Set Your Customer Up for Success
Be thorough. Be honest. Be detail-oriented. In most cases, the customer hired you because you’re the expert. As a business, you have to decide if you want to continue doing business with this customer and, if you do, implement tools to educate and share best practices so you and your client or customers can be set up for success! – Antwanette McLaughlin, The Spice Group, LLC
Follow the Rule of KISS
I just helped a major artist and celebrity launch a Web3 project. Ninety-five percent of their audience knew nothing about Web3, but due to a lengthy KISS (“keep it stupid simple”) educational campaign, they sold out and did very well post-launch. You can’t assume people know too much. As cliche as it sounds, pretend you’re teaching your parents or grandparents and keep it very basic. – Brian D. Evans, BDE Ventures
Use an Elevator Pitch
Coming from the cannabis space, my products always require a little explanation to people outside the cannabis industry. Use an elevator pitch and keep it to one minute or so. Keep your explanations short and positive. Ideally, the recipient is left intrigued and wanting more information. From there, recommend your website or other sources to quench their thirst for knowledge. – Sheila Dedenbach, Heavenly Sweet
Use Video Explainers Backed With Action Items
Because we’re in such a digital world, your audience is more drawn to short videos backed with something that they can take away and follow steps for. TikTok and Reels are a quick way to also share education about your products and services that will keep their attention long enough for them to possibly want more and go visit your website. – Marla Matime, The MAR.M Agency LLC
Use Multiple Mediums
Try communicating through multiple mediums (visual, text, auditory, etc). People learn in multiple ways. You cannot assume that hearing about your company or even reading words about it will be enough to reach all learning styles. – Amanda Reiman, Personal Plants
