pain point

noun

plural pain points

: a persistent or recurring problem (as with a product or service) that frequently inconveniences or annoys customers

When you're in an established market, you have an established customer; their needs and pain points are clearly laid out on your competitors' review sites.

—Billy Polson

Customer service, which has been a pain point of bigger banks for years, is also improving in that it's getting faster and requires little from you.

—Chris Welch

broadly : something that is a recurring source of trouble, annoyance, or distress

Meanwhile, ironing is a pain point with her boyfriend because she loves the look of a crisply pressed men's shirt. "He never irons his shirts and it drives me crazy," she [Elyse Moody] says.

—Jura Konicus

Examples of pain point in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The best tech companies succeed by empathizing with their customers, understanding their pain points and creating solutions tailored to their needs. —Hunter Steele, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025

But the Red Wings’ lackluster results in free agency have been such a pain point that the back-breaking goal coming in that fashion hit especially hard. —Max Bultman, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2025

In particular, the White House could move to remove Wells Fargo’s asset cap, which has been a pain point since it was imposed by the Federal Reserve in 2018 . —Brian Evans, CNBC, 8 Apr. 2025

Eliminating Tech Fragmentation for a Unified Experience A major pain point addressed during the panel was the inefficiency caused by disconnected digital platforms within dealerships. —Tyler Shepherd, USA Today, 4 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1986, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for pain point

• adjoint
• anoint
• appoint
• checkpoint
• conjoint
• disjoint
• endpoint
• gunpoint
• midpoint
• nonpoint
• pinpoint
• standpoint