Why Online Creators Need to Become More Customer-Obsessed

Your customers are real people.

Sometimes – and we’re guilty of this, too – we think of them as entities. But they aren’t; they’re humans with real fears, emotions, hopes, desires, and motivations.

It’s your job as a creator and a business owner to provide them with the solutions, products, tools, resources, goods, and services they need to help them overcome their problems.

Creator CEOs do this very, very well because they are customer-obsessed. The everyday hobbyist doesn’t know their audience well enough to become obsessed with them. The Creator CEO speaks their lingo. They share in their pain points. They understand what truly motivates them.

Law 5 in our “18 Laws of a Creator CEO” states that We Will Become Obsessed With Our Customers. It’s one of many laws that all Creator CEOs live by, and if you want to read the rest of them and begin embodying them yourself, you can download your own free copy of “18 Laws of a Creator CEO”. We won’t tell you what will happen to your business when you follow these laws to a T but – spoiler alert – it’s all really good stuff.

What does it mean to become customer-obsessed?

To become customer-obsessed is to know your customers from top to bottom.

In order to get to know them better, you need to have real, meaningful conversations with them.

The Creator CEOs on SamCart’s platform conduct customer interviews on a monthly basis at minimum.

When you hear your customers talk about their problems, fears, hopes, and desires – and hear it from them directly, IRL, and not on paper – you’ll be able to execute on those feelings more effectively and impactfully.

Not sure where to start? Here are three customer interview questions that can be a jumping off point for a much deeper conversation:

1. How did this customer find out about your brand or company?
2. What changed after they became a customer? 
3. What would you say to someone who is currently thinking about becoming a customer?

And, as a bonus:

4. Do you feel that you’ve gotten everything you need out of my (product/good/service)?
5. What else could I sell you that would help you solve (problem/issue/concern)?

Becoming customer-obsessed doesn’t need to be complicated. Conduct even a single one of these interviews a month and let the findings permeate everything you do from customer support to marketing to product creation. When you carve out a niche and give your customers every opportunity to buy from you, you’ll build a customer base for life.

Who are some examples of customer-obsessed founders to emulate?

Now, we aren’t saying your company will become the next Amazon (but if it does – more power to you!), but Creator CEOs have a lot to learn from the likes of Jeff Bezos. Pre-Amazon, Jeff conducted many customer interviews and heard one overarching complaint: Shipping is too expensive for merchants, and it eats into their profit margins.

Bezos took these findings and poured them into the Amazon platform we know today, offering merchants a platform to sell their products and ship quickly and affordably. It’s a single product that solves a lot of people’s problems, which is why it has become one of the most successful businesses in history.

Put the law of “We Will Become Customer-Obsessed” into practice

We provided you with an open-ended script for conducting customer interviews, but there are other ways to really become customer-obsessed and embody the Creator CEO mindset to growing and scaling your business:

1. Develop empathy by truly understanding your customer’s pain points and how they hope to overcome them. It’s possible you’ve experienced these feelings yourself but, if you haven’t, try your best to put yourself in their shoes.
2. Unlock active communication and give your customers an open door to share their thoughts, feedback, and feelings. Take these conversations to heart and use them to inform all assets of your business.

Ready to achieve or maintain Creator CEO status? Grab your own copy of “18 Laws of a Creator CEO”. It’s free, so what do you really have to lose?

Download “18 Laws of a Creator CEO” here.

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