Wow moments for marketing and sales
There’s a common term in the growth community called aha moments. These are the sparks that occur when users get tremendous value from a product and now see how it will benefit them. Getting users to that aha moment is the key of a significant amount of growth hacking work. Today I want to talk about the closely related, but much less popular “wow moments.” I differentiate wow from aha in that wow moments don’t require you to be using the product. They can take place in a demo, video, or even an ad. These are tremendously powerful, but often underutilized.
In marketing we’re trying to capture awareness, create demand, or drive intent. We have many different tactics to do, but oftentimes we mistakenly try to jam too much into what we want to say or what we want the sellers or product to lead our customers to. I’m trying to spend more time on the wow moments, the places and times where we show something that makes our buyers realize something they didn’t think was possible can take place. The wow moment is the special sauce in your product that may be its unique attribute and it typically ties back to the acute customer needs that you set out to solve. As an example at PandaDoc, we solve workflow issues for businesses to give them time back that they can spend growing their business. When I tell you that, you’re probably thinking there are numerous other tools that do that, but if I can capture your intent and show you something unique that really drives home how we do that I change the game. This creates a scenario where you can see yourself using our product and I have a much better chance at getting you as a customer. For us at PandaDoc this takes several forms - taking indistinguishable proposals and turning them into unique reflections of your brand or seamlessly automating the creation of a contract in seconds, with no errors, and routing it through a predetermined set of steps. I think I did an okay job of explaining those, but when you see them in action it’s eye opening.
Increasingly marketers will want to stop stuffing their website and emails full of every feature they have and instead concentrating on visual ways these wow moments can convey value. Think about the first time you saw ChatGPT answer a question, collaborative editing in a Google doc, or applies a filter on Instagram. You probably stopped and took notice. I know I get wowed by those moments that provide value I care about. You’d be surprised how often marketers forget about this. The same principle also applies to sales. Many sellers want to cover all the basics and feature parity they have with other products in the space; yet the moments I remember are all the unique ones that uniquely solve my pain as a customer. Sellers should also remember to focus on what only your product can do; what makes it unique. This will wow your customers and drive that closed won. The more wow moments you can show, create, and entice your prospects with the more memorable your brand experience and the more conversions you’re going to get.
Are there any companies you think do a great job of showcasing wow moments on their website, in their collateral, or on demos? Let me know.