BML - Edition 22
Fractal thinking for customer research
I've got a fresh new approach to customer research. I discovered it while studying fractals.
If you're new to this newsletter, we're smack in the middle of a series on fractal thinking.
You don't need to read the whole series right now, but at least check out the introductory article because that page has a bunch of visuals. Those visuals will train your eye on fractals.
So far, we've covered:
1) Fractal Thinking for product creation
2) Fractal Thinking for revenue maximization
Today, we'll use Fractal Thinking for customer research.
Today's edition will give you a lightbulb moment that opens your eyes to new ways to position your product, write engaging copy, and convert more customers.
Ready to get into it?
The problem is that most customer research exercises feel totally overwhelming. The worksheets go like this: "Tell us about your customer."
Me: "Umm. . . everything?"
Again, it's far too overwhelming. Wasteful, too. No, if we want to have a shot, we've got to focus our efforts.
But how? This is where ancient wisdom comes to the rescue. Even though we modern humans are walking around sporting Apple watches, quantify everything we do into bits and bytes and data, one fact remains: we humans live our lives in cycles.
As sure as the sun rising and setting.
For example, a human life often includes these cycles:
Starting school
Making friends
Graduating
Getting a job
Getting married
Become parents
Becoming grandparents
You might also call these patterns. "There is a pattern to starting school."
That pattern involves buying school supplies, finding out the teachers' names, and nervousness as you walk into the school.
But for me, here was the big aha . . .
These cycles are fractal.
The cycle of starting 9th grade is within the larger cycle of starting high school. And the cycle of high school is inside the larger cycle of being in school from grades K - 12.
Do you see that? I know it's obvious, but often, the obvious needs pointing out. And in just a sec, you'll see how this fractal pattern of cycles is of immense value.
In our Five Lightbulbs trainings, we've got a few unique customer research exercises. One of them is this cycles-based approach.
Here's the illustration we use to teach it. If you've dug into my Five Lightbulbs framework, you're familiar with our bear.
How many cycles do you see in that illustration?
Five. The four sub-cycles and those all take place within the larger cycle of the bear's day. The fifth.
(This exercise should remind you of that "count the triangles" illustrations I showed you in the introductory article.)
Now, could we drill down into one of these cycles? Definitely.
Within the cycle of fishing, we have the cycle of tying the hook. Within the cycle of dinner, we have the cycle of setting the table.
Do you see how our lives are actually layers of cycles?
Here's a side-view of that illustration, which shows these layers and the fractal pattern. You'll see cycles within cycles.
See the fractal pattern?
Now, let's apply this to your business.
Startups are on my mind. A Y Combinator company I recently consulted with on their messaging, VimCal, just raised $4.5M in a round of seed funding.
Raising funds is a cycle.
So let's say we have a guy raising money for his startup. What's an activity our startup founder might participate in? How about creating the slides for his pitch deck?
Here's that cycle:
When creating your pitch deck, you determine your core message, you create your presentation slides, you practice, get feedback, etc.
But does someone create a pitch deck in a vacuum? Nope. There's always context. We can ask, "What's the context of this founder creating his pitch deck?"
We already know the answer: "The context is that this founder is raising seed funding."
Ah, there's our fractal pattern. Because raising seed funding is another cycle, let's see how our pattern looks now.
See the fractal pattern? You can likely guess the next step.
Once again, we ask, "For the cycle of raising seed funding, what's the larger cycle it's part of?"
Let's say our founder is on his third startup. Here's how that looks.
Now that's interesting.
If you were communicating to this founder, and you knew he was on his third startup, might you speak differently compared to it being his first startup? Of course. A third-time founder is very different than a first-time founder.
Do you see what I mean about the fractal view providing context? That context is much needed, too. It helps us dial in our messaging.
Let's finish this example by jumping up one more level in the fractal pattern. Because this founder's third startup is part of the larger cycle of him being a serial entrepreneur.
Here's that view:
For a better look, here's the side view:
We could keep going, of course. Maybe this founder's cycle of being an entrepreneur came after a cycle of being a corporate employee. That would give us even more context.
Now, here are three ways this cycles-based approach to customer research is useful:
1) You can find the cycle where your product fits
Robert Collier, the legendary copywriter, had this famous quote:
"Enter the conversation taking place in your customer's mind."
I'll play off that and say: Enter the cycle where your product best fits.
Because you must remember it's not about you. It's about your customer. You're fitting into their life -- not the other way around.
And the best way to seamlessly slide into your customer's life is by understanding the cycle to which your product belongs.
2) Uncover vivid copywriting
I have writing technique I teach, called "The movie scene technique," which helps students write more vivid copy. It pairs beautifully with this cycles approach.
If I tell you our startup founder is on his third startup, raising seed funding, and preparing his pitch deck for a big presentation tomorrow, can't you picture that movie? You visualize it playing out, like a movie.
Then, all you do is put that movie scene into words and put those words into your marketing material. You'll automatically have emotionally gripping copywriting.
3) More predictive sales
Who else wants consistent sales in their business? My hand is raised.
Well, this cycles-based approach will give that to you. How? Because a cycle is, well, cyclical. It repeats.
And we want repeating transactions, don't we?
By aligning your product to a cycle, you virtually guarantee what you're selling is something sustainable and not a one-off.
Now, if you're smart, you might also ask . . .
"Who can I partner with in one of the larger or smaller cycles?"
Or, "What cycle comes after my cycle, and can I partner with a company that plays a role in that cycle?"
To drive all this home, here's an updated visual. It shows our founder's cycles, but this time, with products assigned to each fractal layer.
Do you now see the value in applying fractal thinking to customer research?
This exercise should give you all sorts of new ideas.
Fractals are pretty incredible. Useful, too. You've now seen three ways you can use fractal thinking in your business, and next Monday, we have an awesome fourth way coming.
Stay tuned for that. Safe to say it will be our biggest lightbulb moment yet.
Rooting for you,
Billy