Market to Your Customers With Compassion?

Let’s dig into how you can more effectively reach your customers in your marketing efforts by bringing in compassion. If you haven’t read our previous blog teeing up Compassionate Commerce, I recommend you start there and then continue with this blog.  

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The key is to turn abstract notions like compassion and feeling into a real strategy that you can execute throughout your marketing, sales, and even customer support efforts. Below is a diagram of the Uprise Compassionate Commerce model.  

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As illustrated in this diagram, the customer will discover a brand or product for the first time. They then consider whether that company or product can solve their particular problem. They understand more about what the company or product does (features and benefits) and expand their own knowledge about the problem they are trying to solve. They experience or try out different options, maybe through a free trial or one-time purchase. They commit to the option that worked best for their situation (this is the purchase or sign-up). Over time, through multiple uses and return purchases, they come to love that product or service and will advocate for it to their friends and family.  

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Note: there is no guarantee that a customer will follow every step. They might stall or cycle through a couple steps before moving on to the next. And if there is no clear direction or too little support to get them to the next stage, they might choose to abandon the journey altogether.  

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These experiences also align with the three major ways of learning. The cognitive way of learning refers to information collection. The constructivist method refers to piecing all that information into context and identifying how it applies to a particular person or problem. The experiential way of learning refers to trial and error, where someone bases their decision on direct experience. When we layer these three learning mindsets with the different custom experiences, we begin to understand what the customer might be feeling at each stage of the journey.

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I encourage you to add a fourth row to this framework to brainstorm how those emotions relate to your business. How does your customer align with your business over time?

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Here are some additional questions to consider:  

• Where does my customer’s journey begin?
• What are the stories that start their discovery?
• What does my customer feel?
• What does my customer want to feel?
• What other categories, competitors, products/services are vying for their attention?
• How does my customer first experience my product/service?
• How/when does my customer make a purchase or decide to work with me?
• What do I offer after purchase that makes customers fall in love with my brand?

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Summary

The goal here is twofold: to know where and when to best step in and offer your product or service and to do it from a place of authenticity.

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Compassion will empower you to best serve your customer – whether that’s in marketing, sales, or customer support. It helps you to best connect with them in the most meaningful way and create action.

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Feel free to reach out to us if you want help mapping out your customer experience. We would love to help!

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