The Feelings Gap: Why Customers REALLY Buy Your Product

How to tweak your product to 5X its sales

Apr 18, 2023

“Why do people buy milkshakes?”

This was the question that dumbfounded McDonald’s executives. They had interviewed countless customers on how to improve their milkshakes. Should they be bigger? Smoother? Sweeter? Chocolatier? But despite customers answering as best as they could, none of the changes increased milkshake sales.

But when McDonald’s people observed customers in the store, they found something interesting – half of all milkshakes were sold before 8:30 AM. Moreover, these customers would come alone in a hurry, buy only a milkshake, and then drive off with it in their car.

What did all of these customers have in common?

A long, boring work commute.

The customers needed something to help them pass the time while driving to work. That was why they were buying a milkshake instead of a banana or a Coke – a milkshake takes more time to finish.

With this insight, McDonald’s realized they should make their milkshakes thicker to last longer, and thus better keep people engaged. They also created a prepaid swipe card so people could just dash in, grab a milkshake, and go without waiting in a line.

The result? McDonald’s sales of milkshakes increased by 7X.1

Jobs-to-be-done: your product compass in a foggy market

The McDonald’s case is a classical story in the “jobs-to-be-done” (JTBD) methodology by Tony Ulwick. It’s a very useful framework to understand why customers buy what they do.

According to JTBD, customers buy products to fulfill a specific “job”. For example, I recently bought a ticket to a startup conference in order to meet more like-minded people. I’m not there to attend the lectures – I’m there to make new friends.

There are 1,000 reasons why someone might buy your product. JTBD pinpoints the #1 reason why people actually buy.

When McDonald’s realized people were buying milkshakes to stay engaged when driving to work, it was obvious that the milkshakes should be thicker and faster to buy.
If the conference organizers knew I was attending to make new friendships, they would have fewer lectures and instead have more time and space to mingle.

Knowing your customers’ job-to-be-done is like crossing through a thick fog armed with a compass. You know exactly in which direction to take your product.

People don’t buy products. They buy feelings.

A job-to-be-done is sometimes defined as a task customers need completed. But really, a job-to-be-done is a gap of positive feelings.

When McDonald’s customers were buying milkshakes, they did it to go from bored to engaged.
When I registered for the startup conference, I did it to go from lonely to appreciated.

Your product is the bridge in the gap between how customers are feeling right now, and how they want to feel.

There is a famous saying that “Customers don’t buy drills. They buy holes”. The moral is that customers don’t care about your product – they care about the outcome that your product will help them achieve.

But this saying misses the true picture, because the hole is not the end goal either. The customer only wants the hole to, for example, put up a shelf in their living room. That customer is really buying peace of mind of having an organized home.

People don’t buy drills. Nor do they buy holes.
They buy the positive feelings the hole will help them achieve.

When do feelings not play a big role in the purchase?

The reason we buy any product is to achieve some goal we hope will make us happier. However, there are three situations when feelings play a lesser role in the purchase:

1. The purchase isn’t important to the customer

If the customer is just as well off buying vs not buying your product, they likely won’t even bother.

2. There is little opportunity to differentiate your product

When I bought my bicycle helmet, I only cared about two things: safety and price.

This was an important purchase for me. However, there were many helmets of high safety, so there was no further differentiation along this dimension. I just created a short list of top-safety helmets, and then selected the lowest-priced one on that list.

When an apples-to-apples comparison is possible, your product will be judged rationally.

3. You have no brand or relationship equity

Even if your price and quality are exactly identical to the competition, you can still get customers to buy from you based on brand or personal relationships.

If any of these three situations is true for you, then feelings may be less relevant for your particular business. That said, it never hurts to view your customers from a feelings-gap view, since satisfying a feelings gap is the ultimate reason people buy.

Put your customers’ feelings gap into words

To create a “feelings-gap driven” company, it helps tremendously if you can put your customers’ feelings gap into words.

The following mad libs exercise helps you do just that:

When [situation X],
I feel [feelings gap]
because [reason for feelings gap].
I want something that [solution to feelings gap],
and that [additional needs]
because [reason for additional needs].
However, it must not be [constraints]
because [reason for constraints].

Here are examples for three different customers:

McDonald’s milkshake customer:
“When I commute to work, I feel bored because the drive is long and I don’t have anything engaging to do. I want something that helps me stay engaged while driving, and that lasts for a long time because my commute is 1 hour. However, I must be able to buy it quickly because I’m in a hurry.”
Teenager buying a jacket:
“When I go outside in the winter, I feel cold because my only jacket has no lining. I want something that helps me stay warm when going outside, and that looks stylish because I’m a self-conscious teenager who wants to fit in. However, it must not be made of leather because that’s not fashionable in my younger social circle.”
Small e-commerce retailer:
”When a customer visits my online store, I feel afraid that they are not going to buy because of poor product recommendations. I want something that helps my customers find the right product instantly, because 90% of visitors leave in 30 sec. However, it must not require any technical skills because I’m not techy at all.”

Every field in the mad libs may not be relevant to your product. With home insurance, for example, there is no specific situation when you need that product. But for most products, all the fields will indeed be relevant. (You may even have multiple additional needs and constraints).

Don’t just eliminate pain – replace it with delight

So far, we have talked mostly about negative feelings. Fear, frustration, boredom, etc. And for good reason. Negative emotions are very powerful motivators.

But negative feelings is only the first half of the customer journey. From pain ⇒ ok. The other half is about positive feelings. From ok ⇒ delight!

Regardless of what product you are selling, there are two questions you should ask:

Q1: What “evil dragon” am I rescuing my customer from?

Every company needs an opponent – an “evil dragon” – that they will help rescue their customer from. Some examples of dragons for different companies may be:

Apple: computers that are ugly and complex to use.
IKEA: furniture that’s needlessly expensive.
Disney: stories that lack magic.
Google: information that’s messy and hard to access.

Every business needs a dragon. Because without a dragon, there’s no conflict. And if there’s no conflict, there’s no need for your product.

Your product is the hero of the story. And a hero needs a dragon to fight.

Q2: What promised land am I taking my customer to?

The best founders have a vision of how the world ought to be.

Imagine if the hero rescues the princess from the dragon, but then leaves her stranded in a boring village where she lives “ok” for the rest of her days. That’s hardly an ending that makes a great story. And yet, how many products leave the customer stranded being “ok”?

You can build a wildly successful business by just rescuing customers from pain. But if your product replaces pain with delight, you create an experience your customers will rave about.

Eliminating pain is enough to get customers to buy. But only delight will make them loyal fans.

Designing the promised land: 4 ways to create delight

So how do you create “delight”? I’ve found four methods to be particularly effective:

1. Deliver delightful surprises

The best dinner I’ve ever had was at the restaurant Adam & Albin in Stockholm. What made the experience so memorable? Not the amazing taste of the dishes – but the surprising in-between dishes we didn’t expect to get.

First, they welcomed us three gorgeous appetizers before the real course started.
Then they served us not one, but two unexpected in-between dishes not listed on the menu.
Finally, they gave us an extra dessert after the official dessert was over.
And if that wasn’t enough, they then also gave each of us a hand-made chocolate bar to take home as we were leaving!

Just as I felt they had exceeded my expectations and then some, they would take it one step further with yet another surprise! In fact, it was that chocolate bar that truly put the golden cherry on top for the entire evening.

How much did that chocolate cost them per customer? Perhaps $2. But the unexpectedness of it created so much delight in me that it became the best dining experience I’ve ever had.

This story also has a key lesson:

The best time to delight your customers is at the START and END of their journey.

When Adam & Albin welcomed us with the unexpected appetizers, it created a positive halo effect that made me appreciate all the following dishes so much more. And the $2 chocolate at the end is still the one thing I remember best.

2. Create a brand with personality

Southwest Airlines has some of the most loyal customers of all major airlines. And this is largely thanks to their brand having a personality. In Southwest Airlines’ case, they are obsessed with service – and a little crazy about having fun!

On a flight to Hawaii, they gifted every passenger with a free ukulele and gave a 20-minute inflight lesson on how to play the instrument – all while flying at 30,000 feet altitude! 2

Who said you couldn’t have an all-passenger ukulele session on a flight?

In a world of faceless and corporate airlines, Southwest Airlines has a warm and wildly fun personality that’s second to none.

When your brand has personality, you start to build a relationship with your customers. Even if what you sell is identical to the competition, customers will still prefer to buy from you – because of how your brand makes them feel.

It doesn’t matter what your personality is. Apple's personality is about inspiration and design, which is different from Nike, that’s all about achievement. All that matters is that you have one.

3. Build an immersive world of content

Star Wars, My Little Pony, and Harry Potter all created enormous communities of fans by building magical worlds that people could immerse themselves in.

But fictional worlds are not the only kind that matters. You can also create educational and inspirational content that helps your customers decide what product to buy and how to use it.

The fiberglass pool company River Pools & Spas is a great role model in this. Buying a pool is a high-cost, high-risk decision. So naturally, customers want to make sure they are informed about the product.

What has River Pool & Spas done to help their customers?

They’ve created a content library of 380 videos on fiberglass swimming pools! They answer every question about pools imaginable.3

You think this is overkill? Guess whose company website is #1 ranked on nearly every Google keyword on fiberglass pools? Guess which company customers trust the most when buying a pool? And guess which company does the least work selling, because they have a content library that does all the selling for them?

That’s right: River Pools and & Spas.

The more customers immerse themselves in your content, the more they grow to like you and the products you make.

4. Celebrate your customers’ achievements

Peloton is a splendid example of how to create delight by celebrating your users. The company’s exercise bike, fitted with an iPad screen, lets you cycle in real time with professional instructors and other Peloton users from all around the world.

Peloton has gamified the entire experience to maximally celebrate its users:

When cycling in a session, the best-performing users see their names displayed on a leaderboard.
When your exercise streak hits a new milestone, you earn a badge that proves your achievement.
When you complete your first 100 rides, Peloton celebrates by sending you a branded T-shirt. You can not buy this T-shirt. The only way to get it is by completing 100 rides.

If your product helps your customer achieve a meaningful outcome, celebrating their successes is a surefire way to create delight.

Customers can only recognize pain.
It’s your job to design a promised land

Customers can rarely tell you how to build a product that will delight them. Why? Because delight must be better than the customer expected.

No customer could tell Adam & Albin they wanted a takeaway chocolate bar.
No customer could tell Southwest Airlines they wished for free ukuleles on their flight.
No customer could tell River Pool & Spas they craved 380 videos on pools.

It’s your job as the founder to decide what feelings you will create for your customers, and then imagine what that perfect experience will look like in practice.

Your real competition isn’t similar products – it’s different products that satisfy the same feelings gap

Who is McDonald’s biggest competitor when it comes to milkshakes?

It’s not milkshakes from Burger King.

It’s all other products that can keep a driver engaged during a morning commute to work. This includes Snickers bars, bananas, homemade smoothies, etc. It also includes products that aren’t food-related at all.

In fact, Spotify may be a bigger threat than Burger King.

When you understand what feelings gap your product acts as the bridge for, you can more clearly see what you are actually competing with. Knowing this, you can map out the strengths and weaknesses of your true competition, and then position your product to match their strong points and beat them on their weak ones.

Summary

Feelings are the mother of every purchase. Without a feelings gap, there’s no story your product can be the hero of. When you start to view your product in terms of what feelings it creates for your customers, everything becomes so much clearer. You’ll understand:

Why customers really buy your product,
Who your true competition is, and
How you should tweak your customer experience to people further along their emotional journey.

If you take away just one thing from this article, it should be this: