Emily Vernon: Are You Gathering the Right Customer Insights?

We, as marketers, all understand how important it is to get to know our customers. But what discipline are we bringing to that process? Do we understand the many levels of empathy we need to have for them, and how to translate those insights into the customer experience and product or service?

Today, Emily Vernon, shares so much wisdom about how to look at our customers' experience. We talk about the cumulative experience and how brands can shift from being reactive to cultural moments to being more proactive. Emily shares the three altitudes of empathy - the layers at which we need to understand our customers in order to create an engaging experience. We discuss how brand experience is shifting from user-centricity to human centricity, and requires leaders to address more complex, emotional needs (yes, even in B2B!). We chat about how empathy should be viewed as a skill, not a trait.  She also shares 5 empathy exercise types so you avoid seeing customer insight gathering as one-dimensional and discover which ones your brand is doing well, versus what you may be missing to get a fuller picture.  Today's episode may change the way you gather customer insights from now on!

Key Takeaways:

• You have to understand your customers as people, not as a broad, generic demographic. In order to connect with the right people, some people won’t like you. 
• B2B has evolved over the last 20 years, but it is important to remember that you’re selling to humans, who justify emotions with logic, but are still buying with emotion. 
• There is more than one way to look at empathy exercises. It is important to look at empathy from all angles, gather and analyze that information, and then implement with your team and see what sticks.

"We bring meaning in terms of how we live, we bring meaning in terms of how we do our job. There's much more of a movement in B2B to start to look at things emotionally." —  Emily Vernon

About Emily Vernon, Customer Experience Consultant an, B2B Experience Lead:

Emily consults Reckitt around the end-to-end experience for B2B hygiene solutions. For more than ten years, both agency- and client-side, she has enabled brands to better engage their audiences through experience, ranging from products to service rituals, physical environments to digital platforms. 

She’s been honored to have worked with some of the top brands within work, travel, luxury and wellbeing including Lego, IHG, Clinique, Shimano and Converse. Collaborations with these brands and others have been featured in Highsnobiety, Hypebeast, Wallpaper*, Transform and Frame Magazine.

Emily's experiences with stand-up comedy, offshore sailing and living abroad have cultivated her belief that we should always question the default.

Resources Mentioned

Decisive: how to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip and Dan Heath

The Empathy Edge podcast with Michelle Wucker: How Risk Empathy Impacts Team Performance

Connect with Emily Vernon

Website: https://emilyvernon.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilygvernon/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilygv/

Don’t forget to download your free guide! Discover The 5 Business Benefits of Empathy: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

Connect with Maria: 

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria’s brand strategy work and books: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross

Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy

LinkedIn: Maria Ross

Instagram: @redslicemaria

Twitter: @redslice

Facebook: Red Slice

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