“The stick technique focuses on getting customers to actually use and enjoy the products they buy, rather than letting them sit on a shelf unused, which leads to refund requests. It's about improving customer satisfaction and retention rather than acquiring new customers.”
About Use Case Thinking
Use Case Thinking is a marketing framework that trains your mind to automatically think from the customer's perspective by immediately getting into how the customer feels and what they're going through in their specific situation. It's a disciplined approach that requires regular practice through written exercises until this customer-centric thinking becomes automatic.
Eben notes that very few marketers naturally start with use case thinking, indicating it's a rare but valuable skill that sets practitioners apart from typical marketing approaches.
Misconception
“Most marketers approach customers from their own perspective or product features”
Effective marketing requires immediately shifting into the customer's emotional experience and specific use case
Relevant Clips35
- How-To
How to Practice Use Case Thinking for Target Market Selection -- A systematic exercise to train your mind to think from the customer's perspective when selecting target markets
- Teaching
The Stick Technique Improves Customer Satisfaction After Purchase
The stick technique focuses on getting customers to actually use and enjoy the products they buy, rather than letting them sit on a shelf unused, which leads to refund requests. It's about improving customer satisfaction and retention rather than acquiring new customers.
- Teaching▶ 9:40
Shape How Customers Think About Your Entire Industry
By meeting customers early in their journey and educating them throughout, you can shape how they think about your entire marketplace and product category, not just individual buying decisions. This positions you to influence their entire perspective on your industry.
- Teaching▶ 1:07
All Human Motivation Is Irrational — It Doesn't Make Sense
Use case thinking is a framework that trains your mind to automatically think from the customer's perspective. Practice it by doing exercises on paper repeatedly until your mind starts doing it automatically - it's like training wheels for customer-centered thinking.
- Teaching▶ 6:35
Know Customers One-to-One Through All Available Online Tools
Use all available online tools to get to know your customers one-to-one, understanding their problems, fears, fantasies, and what they worry about at night. Then create a mental image of an ideal customer that captures all the commonalities of typical buyers.
- Teaching▶ 8:38
Customer Lifecycle Marketing Meets Buyers at Any Stage
Use customer lifecycle marketing by recognizing that people go through predictable stages. Create a process that customers can join at any stage of their journey, making it feel personal and valuable to each person regardless of where they start.
- Teaching
Golf Club Buyers Decide Emotionally Then Rationalize With Math
Golf club buyers don't calculate the rational value (17 cents per drive improvement). Instead, they imagine friends seeing the club in their golf bag and being impressed, make the emotional decision, then rationalize it with math afterward.
- Teaching▶ 0:41
Find Buyers First Then Build the Product for Them
Instead of planning who should buy your product, find groups of people who already want to buy something and create it for them. Start with the customer's perspective rather than trying to choose who will buy your stuff.
- Teaching
Emotion Decides, Logic Rationalizes
All customer motivation is driven by irrational fears, desires, thoughts and fantasies. People make emotional decisions first, then use logic to rationalize them afterward, not the other way around.
- Teaching▶ 3:56
Use Case Thinking as the Rare First Step in Marketing
Use case thinking is when marketers immediately get into how the customer feels and what they're going through as the first step in creating marketing campaigns. Very few people do this naturally.
- Teaching
Target Groups Who Already Want to Buy
Entrepreneurs universally make the mistake of choosing target markets by planning who should buy their products instead of finding groups of people who already want to buy something
- Teaching
Parent-Child Technique — Enter Their World Before Leading
Use the parent-child technique: enter their world by acknowledging and engaging with their current perspective before gradually guiding them toward your desired outcome.
Show 23 more
- Teaching
Project Into the Customer's Mind — Ask What They Want to Know
Understanding customer needs requires projecting yourself mentally into the customer and asking what they want to know, rather than guessing or thinking you know better
- Teaching▶ 0:45
Start Your Marketing Voice With a Friend's Tone
Start developing your marketing voice with the tone you'd use talking to a close friend or family member, creating familiarity and friendliness as your foundation
- Teaching▶ 1:29
Teaching One Person at a Time Not a Group
Adopt the mindset that you're teaching one person alone, not a group - talk to individuals who are experiencing your content by themselves from their perspective.
- Teaching▶ 3:33
Why Philosophers Make Exceptional AI Prompt Engineers
Philosophers make exceptional AI prompt engineers because their clear thinking and understanding of axioms translates directly to effective communication
- Teaching▶ 0:41
Start With Customer Perspective Before Choosing What to Sell
Creators must balance creation and discovery, but should start with the customer's perspective rather than trying to choose who will buy their products
- Teaching▶ 0:58
Use Case Thinking Requires Repeated Practice on Paper
Use case thinking requires regular practice with exercises done on paper repeatedly until the mind automatically thinks from the customer's perspective
- Teaching▶ 7:02
Coaches Use Past Research Instead of Blank Canvas Thinking
Most coaches use old-world filters based on past experience and research rather than starting with a blank canvas of what the client wants to create
- Teaching▶ 13:28
Empathy Atrophies After Age Four Without Intentional Practice
Empathy develops around age 4, but most people stop using this perspective-taking ability intentionally and let their unconscious process take over
- Teaching
Customer Motivation Driven by Irrational Fears and Desires
Customer motivation is driven entirely by irrational fears, desires, thoughts and fantasies rather than logical cost-benefit analysis
- Teaching▶ 3:52
Use Case Thinking Most Marketers Skip
Very few marketers start with use case thinking—immediately getting into how the customer feels and what they're going through
- Teaching▶ 4:53
Mining Customer Power Words for Marketing Names
Listen for emotionally charged power words that customers use repeatedly and incorporate them into marketing and product names
- Teaching▶ 3:39
Get Inside the Customer's Mind Before Attempting to Sell
You must get inside the customer's mind and understand how they value things before attempting to sell
- Teaching▶ 14:24
Visualize the Ideal Customer Experience From Their Perspective
Use visualization techniques to imagine the ideal customer experience from their perspective
- Teaching▶ 13:27
Full Marketing Alignment as a Secret Weapon
Align every part of your marketing - this is a secret weapon most businesses don't use
- Answer▶ 7:42
When You Truly Understand Your Customer You Spontaneously Feel It
You know you truly understand your customer when you spontaneously feel the emotion they would experience, not just think about what they might feel. It's the difference between thinking 'I'd probably be sad' and actually feeling sad and saying 'oh now I get it.' When you reach this level of understanding, your marketing becomes mesmerizing.
- Answer
Close Your Eyes First: Idealized Design Before Execution
Start by closing your eyes and imagining the ideal state before working on any important project. Use idealized design - envision the perfect product, marketing, or customer experience without any constraints, then work backwards to create it with your current resources.
- Answer▶ 11:33
Idealized Design Thinking — Build What Sounds Like Magic
Use idealized design thinking. Forget about what's possible or what you currently know, and design something that sounds like magic - delivering exactly what customers want quickly, easily, and without hassle. This prevents being constrained by current limitations.
- Answer▶ 7:38
Empathy Is the Most Profitable Skill in Business
Empathy is the most profitable business skill because it provides insights into customer emotions, buying behavior, and the exact words and images that motivate prospects. It helps you create products that sell themselves and marketing that resonates.
- Answer▶ 11:09
Talk to at Least One Prospective Customer Every Day
Talk to at least one prospective customer per day, ideally three or more. Do this earlier in the day since understanding customers deeply is essential for creating effective products and marketing.
- Quotable▶ 15:25
Customers Only Care About One Thing: Getting the Result
The only thing your customer is thinking is, how do I get the result that I want?
- Quotable▶ 1:56
Use Case Thinking Trains the Mind to Default to Customer Perspective
all of the stuff all that motivates us is irrational it doesn't make any sense
- Quotable▶ 1:02
Stop Choosing Who Will Buy — Let Them Self-Select
stop trying to choose who's going to buy your stuff and let them
- Quotable▶ 3:16
You've Got to Connect With the Irrational
you've got to connect with the irrational