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CUSTOMER EMPATHY: THE NORTH STAR TO CX COMMUNICATIONS AND INITIATIVES

© 2020 LitmusWorld | All Rights Reserved of 9

© 2020 LitmusWorld | All Rights Reserved

THE ‘NEW NORMAL’

SYMPATHY VS EMPATHY

7 ACTIONS YOU NEED TO TAKE AS A BRAND TO PORTRAY CUSTOMER EMPATHY

DESIGNING A COMMUNICATION PLAN

REDESIGNING THE FEEDBACK FRAMEWORK

MEASURE

ACT

IMPROVE

COMMUNICATIONS

SUMMARY

ABOUT LITMUSWORLD

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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In the wake of the current crises, many businesses are adjus�ng to a lot of big changes in a very short period.

For almost all of us, this is a case of business under the pretext of the ‘New Normal’. Companies are doing their best to sail through the situa-�on—from ensuring effec�ve crisis communica�on to managing supply-chain disrup�ons and safeguarding the well-being of their staff and employees by adjus�ng daily opera�onal prac�ces.

Customer experience takes on new meaning against this backdrop. Execu�ves typically approach customer experience by crea�ng seam-less, convenient and engaging customer journeys; however, the needs of customers at the moment have shi�ed drama�cally towards more essen�al concerns.

Timely communica�on during a crisis goes a long way, and effec�ve communica�on goes even further. It can spell the difference between a brand’s survival, enhancement or even its irreversible down-turn.

If you have empathy for someone, you can share their emo�ons. It isn’t just about understanding emo�ons, but sharing them – to feel your customers’ emo�ons as they are feeling them. Needless to say, empa-thy goes far beyond mere understanding, to the point of an immensely in�mate connec�on between experience owners and consumers. Using empathy in your consumer communica�ons is a complex process that requires you to take a step outside of your own percep�ons and opinions.

THE ‘NEW NORMAL’ SYMPATHY VS EMPATHYSympathy is a shared feeling, usually of sorrow, pity or compas-sion for your customers. You show concern for your customers when you feel sympathy for them.

Empathy, on the other hand, is stronger than sympathy. It is the ability to put yourself in the place of your customers and under-stand their feelings by correla�ng with them. With empathy, you put yourself in your customers’ shoes, o�en feeling things more deeply than if you just felt sympathy.

If you have consumer empathy, you can understand how your customer currently feels – and how they want to feel – even before they do. You know what products they need, what they want to say about themselves and the issues they struggle with daily.

But beyond knowing, you have an emo�onal a�achment to your consumer. Your heart aches when you listen to them in focus groups describing their daily challenges and you understand what they mean in their answers to the feedback surveys you conduct. As a result, you are be�er able to develop solu�ons that meet their needs, exceed their expecta�ons and are be�er able to communicate with them about those solu�ons because of your empathy.

If you have customer empathy, you can understand how your customers feel even before they can feel it.

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7 ACTIONS YOU NEED TO TAKE AS A BRAND TO PORTRAY CUSTOMER EMPATHY

REDUCE PHYSICAL INTERACTIONSMinimise risk by reducing physical interac�ons – kill the offline feedback channels.

CONTRIBUTE TO SAFETYAc�vely contribute to safety by innova�ng the product por�olio – listen to your customers and make them a part of this innova�on.

ENGAGE YOUR CUSTOMERSBring joy and support to the emo�onal needs of the consumers ‘trapped at home’ – don’t just ask them for feedback. Engage them through quizzes, polls and other mediums as well.

OFFER ONLINE CHANNELSAc�vely redirect customers to online channels – let your consumers know that you are adap�ng to their changing needs.

BE ACCESSIBLEStay reachable and treat customers with care in personal interac�ons – be empathe�c and make sure your communica�ons don’t sound robo�c. Go beyond the script.

COMMUNICATE COMPANY VALUESS�ck to your company values and connect them with customer emo�ons – re-iterate what your company stands for and how this crisis is just another avenue to give back to the community.

TAKE CHARGEBe authorita�ve – while your compe�tors are busy being a ‘me-too’ brand, take charge and lead the pack. Define standards and make sure your customers no�ce your authority.

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DESIGNING A COMMUNICATION PLAN

THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DEFINED BEFORE DESIGNING A COMMUNICATION PLAN:• The message that needs to be communicated.• Audience segment who needs to hear it.• Is your communica�on proac�ve or reac�ve? What is the channel you will use?• Time-sensi�vity of the communica�on.• Various stakeholders that need to be involved/trained for these communica�ons.• Who should be signing off the message?

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KEEP IN MIND FIRST:• Be transparent.• Give people op�ons and alterna�ves.• Honour your exis�ng loyalty programmes. Don’t shut them under the pretext of ‘uncertain �mes.’• Make procedural changes the hero of your communica�on plan• Be helpful. Don’t add to the noise.• Be brief and crisp.• Only state facts.• Be calm and ins�l calmness amongst your readers.

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Invita�on messaging:• While brands may see a reduc�on in transac�ng consumers, they certainly should not observe radio silence. Find alternate ways to engage with your customers. The idea is to keep the communica�on alive and in-turn capture as much informa�on and data about consumer behaviour as possible. • For example: Ask consumers on how you and your team handled the crises, or about how the lockdown has impacted their well-being. Create a joint ini�a�ve between CX, CSR and Marke�ng where the CX team can help iden�fy the pain-areas of your consumers, CSR can address these concerns and Marke�ng can bind the ini�a�ve back to the core values.

Iden�fica�on of channels:• Iden�fy addi�onal digital mediums to engage with your consumers apart from the usual SMS and Email.

• Try giving QR code a shot and a�ach an incen�ve there. Try evangelising app downloads with an incen�ve at the back.

Ques�onnaire design:• Change the copy of your ques�onnaire to show empathy and connect with the right consumer emo�ons instead of using standard jargon-y ques�ons.

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REDESIGNING THE FEEDBACK FRAMEWORK

• For example, you can change the NPS ques�on to: “We’re new to the situa�on just as you. To keep our rela�ons stronger with you we’ve redesigned our business to suit your needs be�er. Would you consider us for your next purchase?” – Yes/No; if Yes, would you suggest our name to your friends and family as well? (safety is our #1 priority) – NPS Scale

• Did we have the right safety measures in place to create a safe shopping experience for you?

• Is there an avenue where we could’ve taken be�er measures to keep you safer? We’d love to know your thoughts on it – Open Text

• Use the real-estate on the screen to provide important informa�on like special support numbers, business hours, and so on.

• The last screen of the conversa�on gives you one en�re screen to convey your messaging to your customers. You could embed a video from your CEO or even a personal address from the business leaders, have dedicated loyalty campaigns or spread awareness in general. For example, one of our clients is now promo�ng a government app issued in public interest. But remember, the last screen is not your spot for upselling and out-of-line product promo�ons.

MEASURE

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Every customer response is important. Now that most brands have the �me and available resources, circle back to as many customers as possible. The first point of ac�on: Call and say, “Thank you for your feedback. Just wanted to circle back and check if you and your loved ones are in good health”. Believe me, this one gesture will take your brand places.

Con�nue this prac�ce even a�er your business re-opens as normal. If calling is not possible, send out emails, SMSes or any other medium that suits you. Doing this will send your online reputa�on off the charts.

Now is the �me to evangelise customer-centricity within the organiza�on. Involve as many stakehold-ers, departments, func�ons and business owners in your CX ini�a�ves. Par�cipa�on now would be higher than ever.

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REDESIGNING THE FEEDBACK FRAMEWORKYour business and CX metrics need to move beyond just NPS and involve other metrics as well. Iden�fy the metrics cri�cal for your business: Safety score, churn rate, reten�on rate, customer effort score, customer sa�sfac�on score and so on

Design improvement plans with the CoE teams to assign, achieve and push benchmarks for incremen-tal improvements

Communicate the improvement plan and changes in metrics to your front-line employees to ensure they are on-board with the situa�on

Most importantly, ensure your CEO is on top of these metrics.

ACT IMPROVE

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COMMUNICATIONS

DO include this in your crisis communica�ons:

How service levels have impacted and what customers should expect.

Details of any con�ngency plan.

Concrete answers to the biggest queries and concerns.

How you are crea�ng value in the current situa�on.

Protec�ve measures you’ve put in place keeping customer and employee safety in mind.

If you’re offering a product or service for free to help those in need.

DON’T include this in your crisis communica�ons:

False, specula�ve or unchecked informa�on.

Out-of-context sales pitches or product placements.

Using your feedback mechanism to re-engage with customers who haven’t interacted with you in a long �me. Honestly, you are just killing your campaign.

Jokes or anything light-hearted that can poten�ally come across as insensi�ve

Anything that does not add value to your customers.

SHOULD YOU PAUSE ALL YOUR PRE-PLANNED CX INITIATIVES?Pause them completely? NO! Re-work them. Make edits and changes to bring them in line with your current customer engagement strategy. Priori�se projects and campaigns and pause some if need be. But, keep the channel open. Capture insights, run quizzes, pulse surveys, keep your customers engaged. Radio silence at this hour could kill your brand.

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SUMMARYThere is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to altering CX ini�a�ves during crises. Adapt, analyse and advance through your CX ini�a�ves. Find newer, innova�ve ways to connect with your customers.

As usual, LitmusWorld is all-hands-on-deck to help you sail through your CX ini�a�ves. If you wish to know more about our expanded scope of crises offerings, please visit #WeCareForYou – an ini�a�ve by LitmusWorld to help our clients grow and expand their customer experience ini�a�ves.

LitmusWorld is a leading enterprise SaaS pla�orm enabling businesses to drive customer and employee experience programmes at scale. Built on a proprietary M.A.I Measure, Act & Improve® framework, the pla�orm delivers ac�onable insights in real-�me across the stakeholder journey. This empowers experience owners to measure experience across business processes, act on issues immediately and con�nu-ously improve by leveraging the analy�cs engine.

150+ global brands have built comprehensive CX, NPS, EX, eNPS programmes to drive improvements in their business processes. Leveraging the LitmusWorld pla�orm, brands are ini�a�ng conversa�ons with over 37 million stakeholders on a monthly basis and providing visibility to over 45,000 dash-boards users across the organisa�onal hierarchy, thereby building a customer-centric culture.

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white paper lor customer empathy: the north star to … · using empathy in your consumer communica...

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