Here we go again: You’re sitting in a meeting, staring at a chart that’s supposed to explain everything. Click-through rates, conversion funnels, demographic breakdowns. The data is all there, colorful and animated. You have more information about your customers than ever before. So why does marketing still feel like a guessing game?

It’s because the data is telling you what people are doing, but it’s leaving out the most important part: why. Dashboards can’t show you the customers’ sighs of frustration when a tool is confusing, just like analytics can’t measure the quiet moment of relief when a problem is finally solved.

In this wild new era of Big Data, we’re all metric-rich, but woefully insight-poor. And the disconnect between the two is costing businesses a lot of money. So today, we’re proposing a different viewpoint: Applied Empathy.

Walk in Their Shoes

Applied Empathy is the active business discipline of seeing the world from your customer’s perspective. Seems pretty straightforward, common sense, even. But it’s amazing to see how many companies neglect this simple, foundational step. Too many startups (and even long-established corporations) are beginning with the product/service rather than the need it fulfils.

This is where the idea of Applied Empathy shines. Like a kind of philosophy, it requires a deep concern for and understanding of your customers’ daily lives, their frustrations and needs, and their unspoken goals. In order for this idea to work, we have to set aside our own immediate needs for profit and growth, and instead focus on the elusive “Why” that brings our customers to us. Not “what do they want?” but “why do they need it?” It’s not enough to simply analyze purchase histories and trends.

We need to pay attention to the deeper, more intangible feelings that actually drive purchases.

Most companies ask, “What features should we add to our product?” Companies practicing Applied Empathy ask, “What is the real problem in their day that we can solve?”

The difference in these two approaches can feel subtle, but the results are night and day.

Beware the Corporate Echo Chamber

Without the discipline to ask the right questions, we all fall into the same trap. We start building products that we like. We get excited about a clever new feature, a slicker UI, or a brilliant engineering solution. We talk to our colleagues, who are also excited, and suddenly the whole room is nodding.

We forget that our customers aren’t in that room. They don’t know our jargon. They don’t care about our internal priorities. They just have a problem, and they it to go away.

Following the principles of Applied Empathy is the escape tunnel out of this echo chamber. It forces you to stop admiring your own solution and start falling in love with your customer’s unique outlooks.

So, How Can We Really Use “Applied Empathy”?

I know: this idea sounds like a bunch of group hugs and reading minds. But like most of the “soft skills” that are becoming more and more invaluable in the workplace, Applied Empathy is a technique that works better the more you practice it.

It’s about getting outside your own comfort zone and getting down in the trenches of your business. It takes time and effort, and the solutions are rarely obvious. But this is the heart of business: this is where you find your next product or service offering, and most importantly, this is where authenticity is born.

When you know your customer, when you’ve stepped outside your own perspectives to see where they are coming from, you open up your business to genuine connections, powerful new touchpoints, and real insight that you simply can’t find anywhere else.

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