5 simple ways for small business owners to gain greater empathy for customers
“We spend a lot time designing the bridge, but not enough time thinking about the people who are crossing it.”
– Dr. Prabhjot Singh, Director of Systems Design at the Earth Institute
Focusing on the bridge without losing sight of the people crossing it sounds straightforward, but it can often be one of the hardest skills for startup founders and business owners to develop as their company grows.
Company growth is a double edge sword, as it can shift the focus from customers to processes and metrics, and not all process and metric optimisations are aligned with customer satisfaction.
How does this happen?
In the early days of building a business, founders tend to spend quality time with potential customers — listening, learning, and reaping all kinds of insights. This deep understanding of users’ needs, feelings and behaviours leads to the design of user-centric solutions upon which hopeful businesses are built.
As the the company begins to grow, a false sense of validation can creep in. Founders can begin believing that they know all there is to know about their customers.
This is a dangerous proposition.
If not remedied, subsequent process and feature designs are likely to fail and be completely out of touch with customers.
The solution: business owners need to be constantly interacting with customers to maintain their empathy tanks brimming.
Here are 5 ways how business owners can re-engage with customers and build empathy on a regular basis:
Observe
One of the simplest practices that an owner can do is to regularly set aside time to just sit and observe customers in action.
“Human-centered design is a philosophy, not a precise set of methods, but one that assumes that innovation should start by getting close to users and observing their activities.”
– Donald A. Norman, Cofounder of Nielsen Norman Group
When was the last time that you did this?
Perhaps it’s been a while.
Set aside an hour this week and just watch customers. What’s surprising? Are customers using your product in the way you thought? Are they passing through all the steps in the right order? Are they skipping steps? Are there moments of frustration, bottle necks or delays? What is working?
I guarantee you will discover something of value, some relevant insight, that will help you improve your business.
Onboard yourself
As the age-old adage goes: you can’t understand someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.
One of the best way to walk in your customers’ shoes is to put yourself through your company’s process of onboarding new customers.
How easy and frictionless is it to pass from the realm of a non-user into the exciting status of long-term loyal customer?
If done right, your onboarding process should help new customers experience your product or service’s core value in the shortest amount of time and steps possible. Moreover, your onboarding process should set up customers for future success using your product or service.
When was the last time you used your product from zero to hero?
Once again, set aside some time this week and onboard yourself. Your goal is to experience for the first time (or simply remind yourself) what it feels like to (1) purchase your product or service and (2) use it.
“You never really understand another person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
— Harper Lee in To Kill A Mockingbird
Regularly chat to customers
Sometimes it’s easier to just avoid customers. As a business owner it’s tempting to delegate all customer issues to someone on your team. While you deal with critical issues regarding operations, cash flow and strategy, taking the time to chat with customers can feel like a distraction.
Sometimes we plain avoid speaking to customers, because we don’t want to be reminded of what we already know is broken. We fear complaints, requests and feedback.
But most of the time we are just too darn busy to spend quality 1–1 time with customers and to truly listen.
Be proactive and seek out regular one-on-one’s with your customers. Grab a coffee or a Hot Chocolate. Give them a quick call if you can’t meet in person. Be creative. There’s no excuse not to create opportunities to engage purposefully with your customers.
Your primary objective in chatting with customers is to better understand them.
“The main tenet of design thinking is empathy for the people you’re trying to design for. Leadership is exactly the same thing — building empathy for the people that you’re entrusted to help.
– David Kelley, Founder of IDEO
I have found that chatting regularly with my customers reminds me of who I am building this business for — it’s not just for me, my partners or our investors.
The pressure to increase profits and optimize metrics can convert customers into sterile numbers and indicators. Regular and purposeful interactions with your customers puts some soul back into the metrics.
Learn customers’ names
Names have power.
J.K Rowling taught us that.
“Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.”
— J.K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Learning your customers’ names, especially when you are still a relatively small company, is an effective way to feel a deeper sense of connection to those customers. It is amazing how knowing someone’s name is often the key to unlocking all sorts of revealing conversations.
It’s effect is immediate.
Having names behind your numbers and reports helps you to focus on solutions that benefit the people your business was built to serve, and not just the business itself.
Plus, what customer doesn’t like to be greeted with a smile and by her name?
Study customers reviews
Customer reviews are a great source to glean new insights. Read what customers say about you online. Look for patterns. What are the common threads? What are the reacurring themes and keywords? What feelings are behind the words?
Pouring through customer reviews can be a nerve-racking experience, especially if you are in a service-oriented business. You are bound to come across stories left by disgruntled customers. You will probably feel deep embarrassment at times. That’s good.
But don’t beat yourself up too much.
Ben Horowitz in his book The Hard Thing About Hard Things gives some on-point advice to business owners regarding taking things personally:
CEOs often make one of the following two mistakes:
1. They take things too personally
2. They do not take things personally enough
I’ll let you be the judge of that invisible line.
On a positive note, a crappy customer review is in fact an opportunity for you to engage in a meaningful interaction with that person.
If a business resolves its issue quickly and efficiently, 95% of unhappy customers returns back to your business
— Source: https://www.vendasta.com/blog/50-stats-you-need-to-know-about-online-reviews
Don’t delegate it. Reach out yourself.
Epilogue
As a business owner you should never stop learning. More importantly, never stop feeling. Seek empathy. Make it your quest to understand — truly understand — and watch how your perspective on customer service transforms.
