Helping Customers Reach the Aha! Moment Faster

Today I’m pleased to share a post by Ashley Wilson.

Image courtesy of Unsplash

As a business owner, you know that your business provides great value to your customers. However, in a crowded market, new customers won’t always immediately see why they should choose you over your competitor.

The role of Aha! moments is to ensure you position your business as a valuable partner as soon as possible.

Let’s dive in and see what those moments are and why they matter.

What is an Aha! Moment?

Simply put, an Aha! moment is the moment a new user or customer realises the value of your service or product.

[Source: This Is How You Find Your App’s Aha! Moment]

As soon as you make customers experience the benefits firsthand, they are well on their way to becoming loyal customers. Aha! moments elicit a stronger response than a plain sales copy, making them indispensable for a positive customer experience.

How to Define Aha! Moments for Your Customers

Essentially, the Aha! moment entails solving a problem or gaining a specific value.

An Aha! moment means different things in various industries, so the metrics for measuring the success of these moments will also vary.

[Source: Measure Value Behaviors And Value Outcomes To Drive Customer Obsession]

Not all products or services can demonstrate their concrete benefits in a short time. That’s why you shouldn’t rely on a single, universal Aha! moment for the entire customer journey.

Here’s how to find potential Aha! moments.

Get Feedback From Existing Users

You want insights from existing customers who achieve exceptional results with your product, so you can convey them to your prospects.

However, feedback from churned customers is just as valuable, because it allows you to see the process from a different angle and identify where you can do better.

Determine Your Relevant Metrics

How do your customers determine it’s worthwhile doing business with you? What counts as success or value from their perspective? How do you measure those milestones and achievements?

Look For Friction Points

Compile and analyse data on churned customers and see what caused friction. At what point did they stop using your product? Did they complete the trial or onboarding process? Can you segment a specific customer group based on their behavior prior to churning?

Analysing usage and determining why some features are used more than others should give you pointers on where your product fails to present value to the user.

How to Achieve the Aha! Moment Faster

A customer who doesn’t quickly realise what they have to gain won’t hesitate to leave you. This impacts your churn rates, your revenue and, consequently, jeopardises your reputation and business as a whole.

However, enabling the eureka moment early on can boost your revenue; one study found that improvements to your new customer’s first five minutes with your product can generate a 50% increase in lifetime value.

Here are some simple tips to accelerate the revelation moment:

• Segment your audience to personalise the experience. Is your product a food delivery app? Why not list the best-rated restaurants in your customer’s vicinity too?
• Create an interactive and engaging user experience. Let customers try out the service immediately. For example, the first thing a user sees on the BuzzSumo homepage is a prompt to try out their content discovery tool themselves.
• Don’t ask too much from the customer. If you’re selling something on your website, you’ll need more data from the customer later on. But for starters, let the user browse your product categories and see the goods you offer before deciding to make a purchase.
• Give something away for free. Free trials are a powerful tool for software providers to make potential new users see how the software can help them. This not only simplifies the onboarding process but drives long term adoption too. Similarly, can your business offer some sort of freebies for the customer to try out?
• Use checklists. What milestones do your customers have to achieve to tell they’ve succeeded? Visualise the customer journey and define the milestones. This is a good approach for educational apps or coaching services, as customers can see their progress and how you helped them achieve it.

Incorporating Aha! moments into your broader customer experience strategy ensures you keep your new customer’s interest. The sooner you help them realise why they need your product, the better your business will fare in the long run.

Conclusion

During the sales or onboarding process, you might focus on telling your users all about the cool features and the value you offer. However, the role of an Aha! moment is for the user to experience it on their own.

This emotional, rather than rational, experience is a powerful adoption and loyalty driver. Look at your product or service through your customer’s eyes. This will help you find opportunities to delight the user by making your value proposition palpable and real.

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Ashley Wilson is a content creator, writing about business and tech. She has been known to reference movies in casual conversation and enjoys baking homemade treats for her husband and their two felines, Lady and Gaga. You can get in touch with Ashley via Twitter.