Empathy: magic glue for the hybrid shopper

August 15, 2022 Juanita Neville-Te Rito

Can you remember life before Uber Eats? Or a time before you could split a restaurant bill with your mate on a banking app or order a piping-hot coffee as you walk through the Koru lounge while you wait to board your plane? Or, in the case of my son, being able to swap shifts with colleagues via Facebook Messenger?

 

The pandemic catalysed new customer and employee behaviours and increased pressure on companies to adopt a digital strategy to supplement their physical presence with e-commerce. It also drove shoppers to websites, apps and methods such as click-and-collect for their necessities. For me, never forgetting my dog food and flea, tick and worm treatment is solved by Animates’ repeat delivery – seamless and forget-me-not proof.

 

Once physical retail spaces began to reopen though, we were met with a new consumer – one with expectations for the same convenience and touch points they’d grown accustomed to during lockdown. In short, their expectations are higher now that they’re comfortable toggling between different shopping modes. These customers check product inventory before venturing into a store because of supply chain shortages; they pay with Paywave and ‘Buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) so they can get what they want immediately; when they eat out, they order through a mobile app to ensure it's ready upon arrival; and they use click-and-collect if they're short on time. They’re hybrid shoppers.

 

These demands involve decision-making that is functional, rational and emotional, which means every retail experience will vary, dependent on your customer’s requirements for that day.

 

The magic glue

If you haven’t read Daniel Kahneman’s 2011 book Thinking, Fast and Slow, I’d suggest you do. The 2002 Nobel Prize winner is renowned for his work on the psychology of decision making and behavioural economics. He presents a pretty simple theory: If you want to nail customer experience, you need to be certain the experiences you offer make your customers feel good. And the key to that is empathy – the ‘magic glue’. Empathy – identifying with and understanding another’s situation, feelings and motives – is key when it comes to delivering a great customer experience.

 

The companies that really get the magic-glue concept take the time to understand their customers and make a concerted effort to apply these insights to every aspect of their business, from new product development and call centre training to the retail environment. Yet customer experience (CX) strategy is still often overlooked by businesses aspiring to the elusive CX gold. It requires respect for customer research (not just commissioning research to prove a point or measure some internal KPIs), a commitment to getting your customers involved in solving the problem and actively listening until you can specifically identify the points of friction. I know some very intelligent teams that think they do all this but which always create such an arduous journey around those internal processes that they simply aren’t hungry enough to tackle it.

 

Biometric payment

Many readers will have heard about the Amazon Go concept, which started in the US and recently opened in the UK. Essentially it’s a convenience store where you walk in, grab what you want and go. No checkouts, no interactions – as long as you’re registered with the app on your phone, voilà!

 

Amazon then went a step further, using customers’ hands for biometric payment. Such seamless shopping has applications across many industries. Imagine entering a sporting or music event with the swipe of a hand. Before anyone starts with jokes about chopping people’s hands off to get into the next Ed Sheeran concert for free, this example is purely to make you think about the role of really nailing the frictions that exist for your customer (and team members) and how empathy plays a role in your business thinking.

 

We have long recognised the importance of understanding the customer journey and all its touchpoints, but truly groundbreaking ideas bred from insight and wrapped in empathy make a mark that engenders customer loyalty and advocacy.

 

For more on buy now, pay later, see https://www.nzoptics.co.nz/articles/archive/resolving-short-term-barriers-to-eyecare/

 

Juanita Neville-Te Rito is the founder and managing director of consultancy Retail X, a strategic partner for organisations that want to focus on brand, customer experience and excellence in marketing communications. Contact Juanita on juanita@retailx.co.nz or www.retailx.co.nz