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Proactive compassion: feel what customers feel before creating marketing

Most marketers think about what customers might feel. That's not enough. Compassion in business is proactive empathy — you actually experience the emotion yourself. You know you truly understand your customer when you spontaneously feel what they would feel, not just when you intellectually acknowledge it. There's a difference between thinking 'they'd probably feel frustrated' and actually feeling frustrated yourself. Use-case thinking means your very first step in creating any campaign is getting into the customer's emotional experience. Very few people do this naturally. When your marketing comes from that place — when you've genuinely felt the problem — your communication becomes almost hypnotic to the people who have it. They feel like someone finally understands where they're coming from.

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Most marketers think about what customers might feel. That's not enough. Compassion in business is proactive empathy — you actually experience the emotion yourself. You know you truly understand your customer when you spontaneously feel what they would feel, not just when you intellectually acknowledge it. There's a difference between thinking 'they'd probably feel frustrated' and actually feeling frustrated yourself. Use-case thinking means your very first step in creating any campaign is getting into the customer's emotional experience. Very few people do this naturally. When your marketing comes from that place — when you've genuinely felt the problem — your communication becomes almost hypnotic to the people who have it. They feel like someone finally understands where they're coming from.

Relevant Clips4

  • Answer1:24

    Think vs Feel: Knowing When You Truly Understand Your Customer

    You know you truly understand your customer when you spontaneously feel the emotion they would experience, not when you just think about what they might feel. It's the difference between thinking 'they'd probably feel sad' and actually feeling sad yourself.

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  • Answer0:20

    Proactive Empathy: Getting Involved Enough to Feel It

    Compassion in business is proactive empathy that involves not just understanding how customers feel, but actually experiencing those emotions yourself. It means getting involved and taking it seriously enough to feel what they feel.

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  • Answer3:29

    Marketing That Feels Hypnotic Because You Truly Empathize

    When you truly feel what customers are feeling, your marketing communication becomes mesmerizing and almost hypnotic to them. They'll be riveted because they feel like someone finally understands where they're coming from.

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  • Answer3:56

    Use Case Thinking as the Rare First Step in Marketing

    Use case thinking is when marketers immediately get into how the customer feels and what they're going through as the first step in creating marketing campaigns. Very few people do this naturally.

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