What you’ll read:
- Perfectionism is harming your customers
- Here’s how to help them embrace a more achievable standard during the customer journey
The rise of perfectionism throughout the modern world is undeniable.
Unfortunately, as social psychologist Thomas Curran discusses in his TED Talk, this rampant obsession has dangerous implications for both individuals and society as a whole.
As marketers and service providers, we need to be wary of how this obsession impacts our customers’ actions, and their overall relationship with your brand. Moreover, we need to help our customers embrace imperfection throughout their journey – or risk losing them once they inevitably fall short of their unattainable goals.
With Curran’s salient words fresh in our minds, let’s discuss how to help our customers overcome perfectionism on their way to true success and happiness.
Always Empathize Deeply With Your Customers
The unfortunate reality of perfectionism is that many of us continue to strive for it even when we know it’s an impossible standard to live up to.
Of course, knowing this and accepting it are two different things. And, to be sure, it will take a lot more than a few trite quips about “nobody being perfect” for your customers to get over their need to be perfect.
Your first order of business, then, is to empathize with your customers from the get-go. Before you can convince them that they don’t need to be perfect, you need to understand why they want to be perfect in the first place.
You need to gain a complete understanding of:
- What they hope to accomplish — and why
- What their journey has consisted of up to this point
- Why they’re coming to you for help
In short, your individual customers need to know you “get them” on a personal level. Before you can deliver the specific products, services, and experiences your customers need to make progress, you need to receive them with open arms and ears.
The clearer it is to your audience that you truly care about their needs and their overall comfort, the more likely they’ll be to dive even deeper with your brand.
Set Realistic Goals and Expectations for Your Customers
Once you’ve found common ground to stand on with your new customers, only then should you begin setting their expectations for the future.
For one, you want to minimize the impact your customers’ negative emotions may have on their progress. If they’re still unsure that they’re making the right decision, they won’t be able to get the full value out of your products or services.
Secondly, you need to show your new customers that you have a clear plan in place for helping them succeed. With a deeper understanding of their situation, their strengths and weaknesses, and other individual factors, you’ll be better able to explain:
- What they will need to do moving forward
- How you’ll help them along the way
- What might not be possible for them at the moment, but will become possible as they continue to grow
Setting realistic expectations for your new customers also helps them avoid constantly comparing themselves to others.
As we’ll discuss, the only person your customers should compare themselves to is their past selves. This will keep them focused on their journey, growth, and successes — and help them avoid harping on what others are doing that they’ve yet to accomplish.
Finally, it provides some transparency on your end regarding your products or services.
While things will ideally go pretty smoothly for your new customers, you don’t want to pretend that there’s no chance of things getting off-track. Instead, you want to prepare your customers for these moments — and reinforce your dedication to helping them overcome the challenges they face on their way to success.
Reframe Setbacks as Opportunities (and Be There to Help)
Curran makes clear in his Talk that “failure” is not synonymous with “weakness”.
Your customers must understand that their imperfections — whether in their skills, knowledge, or actual performance — are not permanent fixtures in their lives. Rather, they need to start seeing their current shortcomings as opportunities for future growth.
This is why it’s so important for them to know what not to expect as they get started. Without these realistic expectations, they might quickly call it quits the moment they face a struggle of any kind.
As we said above, your job is to give them exactly what they need to overcome the challenges they face.
This may mean:
- Providing additional content focusing on their specific issue
- Delivering hands-on assistance at critical moments (while also providing self-service options for less intensive issues)
- Showcasing additional products or services that may be better suited for their needs
Backing up a bit, you also want your customers to face these inevitable challenges head-on — and to leave any negative emotions they have about the situation behind. Providing case studies and other forms of social proof throughout their journey will allow them to see how others in similar situations have navigated these challenges — and will keep them motivated to do the same.
That said, you still want to keep the focus on the individual customer. As you engage with your struggling customers, make sure they see just how much they’ve accomplished thus far — and how much more prepared they are to face the next challenge ahead.
Celebrate Growth and Reflect on Imperfection
The essence of perfectionism is the feeling that anything short of 100% success is paramount to no progress at all.
Unfortunately, customers operating with this mindset will pretty much always feel disappointed, both in their own efforts and in your ability to help them. Needless to say, this won’t bode well for the future of your relationship with these individuals.
Again, your job here is to reframe the way they look at their journey up to this point. Don’t allow them to stay stuck on their shortcomings, or on what they haven’t yet accomplished. Instead, lead them to a more objective and realistic understanding of the work they have done — even if they’re not yet where they truly want to be.
On a practical level, you’ll want to showcase the customer’s strengths and weaknesses, along with specific evidence (e.g., performance data, engagement history, etc.) of these claims. From there, you can provide laser-focused guidance and instruction that will lead to further growth.
As the customer grows in knowledge, skills, and performance, you can then revisit and reinforce the true definition of success — and why they don’t need to be absolutely perfect to achieve it.
While you probably aren’t going to completely revolutionize the way your customers see the world or approach the tasks in front of them, you’ll at least provide some comfort in showing them that they don’t always have to be perfect.