How Putting Customer Empathy into Practice Can Benefit Your Business
Empathy is the secret to great customer service. But how important is it really? According to recent research, 86% of consumers are willing to pay for products and services from businesses that prioritize customer empathy. The value of empathy has increased in post-pandemic times, according to the same research.
The importance of customer experience (CX) has greatly evolved since the term was coined by Lewis Carbone and Stephan Haeckel in 2014. We’re going to pull apart the role of empathy in delivering a better customer experience and why it matters.
What Is Customer Empathy?
Customer empathy involves recognizing and acknowledging your customers’ underlying needs and desires. It’s more than just the ability to know what your customers want. It’s also the ability to put yourself in their position so you can see and experience things from their perspective.
As a business owner, you look for ways to improve the overall customer experience. However, the only way to succeed in this endeavor is to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. That way, you can feel their pain and find the best solutions—through your products and services.
It’s no secret that big brands compete to deliver the best customer experience. The reason so many brands are now putting emphasis on empathy is due to the poor experience they’ve delivered in the past. A few years ago, brands would only respond to customer needs during a stressful situation, such as when there was a customer complaint or after an unsatisfactory experience.
But implementing customer empathy as a part of your company culture is a proactive approach to increasing customer satisfaction rather than trying to resolve matters after the fact.
Customer empathy is more than understanding the problem; it’s also having the authority to help solve it.
What Are the Benefits of Customer Empathy?
According to a PwC report called “Experience is everything,” 59% of consumers agree that companies have overlooked the human element of customer experience.
That statistic is important for businesses looking to embrace AI and implement chatbot strategies. As you aim to boost customer experience, do not lose sight of the human element and customer empathy. Technology must be viewed as only a means to an end—and empathy is that end.
Here are some of the reasons your customer experience strategies need empathy…
Empathy Inspires Innovation
Brands that can innovate are the ones in the position to outdo their competitors. They can use empathy as fuel for new product innovations. The ability to uncover demand-driven insights helps businesses develop better products and services that fit the needs of their customers.
A scientific experiment performed on adults showed that empathy boosted their creativity. The study’s conclusion revealed that the empathy-focused group came up with more original product ideas.
Empathy Boosts Satisfaction Level
This is a no-brainer; putting priority on customer empathy can improve overall satisfaction for customers. When you take customer needs and feelings into consideration, they are more likely to find value in your offerings.
Empathy Improves Revenue
Empathy is critical in matching the real lived experience of consumers with a particular product versus the marketing promise for those products. You could bridge the gap by using empathy, which focuses on understanding and applying customer insights in the product development process.
Improving the customer experience can translate to increased sales. According to a study of 34,000 consumers, 18% have stopped buying from brands that failed to deliver on their marketing promises.
Empathy Delivers Customer Insights
The ability to gain customer insights is one of the most important benefits of using empathy. It’s essential to know how and why your customers are feeling a particular way about your brand or products, which allows you to respond in the most appropriate way—and in a timely manner.
Empathy Helps Predict Customer Behavior
Part of delivering a great customer experience is predicting how customers will react in a certain situation. Customer empathy proves valuable in this regard because your ability to understand how your customers might feel can also help predict how they would react or respond to those situations.
This is beneficial for a brand because you can prevent possible issues. It will also drive you to come up with more efficient solutions for your customers’ needs.
When customer empathy is executed correctly, it is a superpower that helps move your customer further along the customer journey. It really is a superpower!
How Does a Business Suffer When Empathy Is Lacking?
It’s clear that customer empathy is a valuable component of improving the customer experience. But what happens if you choose to ignore it? There are serious consequences your business may face if you do so.
Customers Feel Ignored
Without customers, your business wouldn’t exist or thrive. In everything you do, make sure you put value on your customers. Otherwise, it can make them feel ignored and undervalued.
Products or Services Can Become Ineffective
A lack of empathy prevents you from exploring more opportunities to improve your products and from innovating because you lack the insight to do so. Furthermore, consumers who use your products or services end up frustrated or have a poor overall experience because it does not consider their needs or feedback.
You Can Lose Sales
The main goal for your business and current marketing efforts is to drive sales and boost revenue. A lack of empathy in your customer experience strategy could result in a dip in sales performance.
When customers are unsatisfied with your products or services, many will choose not to buy from your brand again. As a result, you lose out on your potential to generate revenue. Plus, word of mouth can ruin your business reputation as these customers are more likely to share their negative experiences with others.
Tips for Putting Customer Empathy into Practice
The most crucial step is acknowledging that empathy plays a vital role in improving customer experience. Once you realize that, you can incorporate it into product development, marketing, and customer service to be more intentional.
It’s also an important part of transforming your company culture into one that emphasizes the value of customers. Empathy should be viewed as more than an initiative; it is a cultural attribute that needs to be woven into everything your company does.
Here are some ideas for incorporating empathy into your business…
- Ensure that the customer experience is holistic. Don’t use this approach only in one aspect of your business, such as product development. Place empathy as a driving force in every part of your business to ensure that you can deliver a complete experience for your customers.
- Focus on building direct interaction with customers. There’s no better way to gain insight into your customers’ needs than by getting it directly from them. Use whatever systems and technologies are available in your toolbox to connect with customers.
- Acknowledge that customers are multidimensional. You must understand that consumers are complex and well-rounded people. That’s an important driver in understanding customers on a deeper level. Although creating avatars for your ideal customers can provide a lot of insight, not everyone will fit neatly into a single box.
- Leverage your staff. Your employees are the ones who will likely interact with customers. Make sure to leverage that connection by equipping them with the right skills and training to gain new insights into your customer.
- Don’t be afraid to get emotional. Using emotions in your marketing and more is a great way to put empathy into practice. It shows that you understand how current or potential customers are feeling. And this, in turn, can increase their trust in your brand.
Takeaway
The idea that customer experience is critical to business success isn’t revolutionary. However, the way customers interact with businesses and their expectations have transformed significantly over the past decade or so. Ensure your business can adapt accordingly, and it will pay dividends over time.
Are you struggling to bring customer empathy into your company? Schedule a free consultation with our marketing experts at Viral Solutions. Let’s talk about how to incorporate greater empathy into everything you do for a better customer experience.
At Viral Solutions we are committed to seeing YOU succeed. It is our goal to grow your business with proven digital marketing strategies that will help your business for the long haul.
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