Get More Customers By Speaking Their Language

Do you refer to it as soda, pop, or soda-pop? In some places, they put all carbonated soft drinks under the umbrella of “Coke”, and then they ask you what kind of “Coke” you’d like. The same thing happens with a certain type of sandwich. If you’re from New Jersey, they’re called “subs”. But  elsewhere, the same sandwich might be a hoagie or a grinder. And there are probably other names out there for it that I’m not aware of.

My point is that people have different ways of talking about the same products, services and needs.

Your customers will often approach your products and services from a different perspective than yours. The most customer-friendly businesses will win just about every time, and being customer-friendly includes speaking their language. If you put yourself in your customers’ shoes, you’ll be one step closer to getting found and starting a relationship with them. When you speak someone’s language, you start to earn their trust. And trust is a key in developing new and repeat customers.

At my first marketing agency role, I consulted with small businesses entering the digital marketing space. My client, a woodworking machine company, spelled saw blades just that way – “saw blades.” While multiple forms are acceptable, we found in our research that people were searching for the product using multiple spellings and terms. Some minor adjustments to paid search campaigns increased traffic dramatically. In this case, there was a linguistic gap between customers and the company. They were both talking about the same product, but thinking about it in different ways, and this affected performance. Once that gap was discovered and bridged, everybody won. Customers found what they were looking for from a solid provider, and the company saw increased traffic and sales.

Speaking your customers’ language doesn’t always have to do with spelling or grammar. It could be related to the unique ways customers view their needs. When the charger jack on my personal laptop broke, I started Googling computer repair shops close to me. The results were overwhelming, as there are hundreds of computer repair outfits in the New York City area. By refining my search to terms like “laptop power jack repair” and “laptop charger jack repair,” I found a local repair company with an entire page of its website dedicated to fixing laptop power jacks. The page contained information that was right on target for my needs, and that was the shop that got my business.

I didn’t just need “computer repair” or “laptop repair”. I had a very specific issue I sought to resolve. The shop I chose thought like me, the customer. They viewed computer repair as a set of common-but-specific issues. Similarly, my former client used search engine data to learn how customers approached their product category. They then modified their web presence to align with that approach.

When you speak your customers’ language, you make it easier for them to find you, trust you, and buy from you.