What our customers say vs what they mean

My latest article on what customers say vs what they mean  and what you should do about itwas just posted at Inc.com!

Here’s a snippet…

You know this meme: You hear one thing, but it probably means something else entirely. (Like when my wife says “Don’t worry about it,” it usually means, “It’s important. Worry.”) You’ve probably seen these sorts of lists for relationships,Americans, or maybe venture capitalists.

But funny as the jokes can be, the kidding stops when it comes to your customers–because knowing what they really want is critical to your business.

We’ve interviewed hundreds of users of our service and we found some common discrepancies between what they say and what they actually mean. Here are eight common comments, translated for you–plus some advice on what you should and shouldn’t do about it.

‘Your website should be more like [your competitor’s].’

• What they mean: “I really like [your competitor] and think your site is pretty close to theirs, but I really prefer Site X.”
• Don’t: Just make your site more like Site X.
• Do: Figure out what makes you different, and change your site to reflect that. You want your site to be so different from your competitor’s that there really is no comparison.