How To Turn Customer Love Into a Superpower

Confession time: every company on Planet Startup claims they “love their customers.” Cute. But love, like that gym membership you bought in January, is only impressive if you actually use it.

So how do you turn that warm, fuzzy feeling into a full‑blown, bonafide super‑power?

Three progressively powerful levels await you. Ready? Cue the video‑game soundtrack.

LEVEL 1:

Good, Clean Living This is Customer Feedback 101—the spinach of business.

• NPS surveys? Yes, please.

• Follow-ups to customer support issues? Fantastic.

• Bug hunts and feature wish lists? Like Pokémon, gotta catch ’em all.

If you’re not doing any of this, stop reading, go do it, then come back. I'll wait … (Jeopardy theme plays softly.)

LEVEL 2:

Better, Cleaner Living Now we widen the lens from “product” to “experience.” Ask questions like:

• Was pricing easy to find, or did it require a secret decoder ring?

• Talking to Sales: pleasant chat or dental surgery without anesthesia?

• Do your invoice emails read like a friendly note—or a ransom letter?

• When customers change jobs, do they smuggle your software into the new gig like contraband coffee?

If you’re gathering intel at this level, congrats—you’ve unlocked the “Customer Experience Nerd” badge.

LEVEL 3 (Boss Level):

It’s Not About You (Plot Twist!) Here’s where most companies wimp out. Collecting feedback is still you‑centered: “How can we polish our product? How can we fatten our revenue?” Important, sure, but not transcendent.

Instead, zoom into the customer’s hopes, dreams, and 3 A.M. anxieties.

Ask:

• “Hey, how’s life treating you?” (Yes, seriously.)

• “What monster problem keeps you caffeinated past midnight?”

• “What would make you look like a rock star at your next all‑hands meeting?”

Why bother? Because customers are people too (plot twist #2). And people who feel known become fans, not just fleeting users. That’s the difference between a handshake and a high‑five.

“But Dharmesh,” you protest, “does this scale?” Nope. And that’s fine. Talk to 100 customers; extract one blinding insight; build something nobody else saw coming. That’s venture‑grade ROI right there.

A close to home example: At HubSpot we don’t just build software; we try to build careers. (Software is lines of code. Careers are lines of destiny—way cooler.) So our questions aren’t limited to “Which button color converts best?” We also ask, “How do we help Sarah in Sales become Sarah the CEO someday?” That mindset has served us better than unlimited office snacks (which we also have)—and that’s saying something.

The Takeaways (Because Every Article Post Needs Some)

1. Do the basics.

2. Then do the better basics.

3. Then do the human stuff that isn’t on anyone’s KPI dashboard (yet).

Do that, and your relationship with customers will stop being a polite handshake and start looking a lot more like a superhero cape—billowing dramatically in the updraft of shared success.

And if you're really looking to be supercool, start learning about AI agents and see how they can help create better customer connection. I (of course) recommend starting with agent.ai. Cape still optional, but you're going to feel like you deserve one.