It is well known that empathy is a key ingredient in creating lovable products, yet not all products offer the best customer experience. From meeting stringent deadlines to insufficient resources being available to carry out customer research, there is a range of reasons why customer empathy could be missing in product development. Join Esther Kieft, as she breaks down using empathy at a distance to evaluate the problems that customers are experiencing during this global health crisis.

1. The Connected Journey:
Developing your Empathy to Strengthen
Strategies for Customer Relations
Esther Kieft Rebecca Komathy
With: Moderated by:
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https://www.productmanagementtoday.com/frs/14021224/the-connected-journey--developing-your-empathy-to-
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The Connected Journey:
Developing your Empathy to Strengthen
Strategies for Customer Relations

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The Connected Journey:
Developing your Empathy to Strengthen
Strategies for Customer Relations
4
About Esther Kieft
Esther is an award winning, international digital leader who specialises in product management, customer experience,
agile and lean practice and project delivery. She has worked in the fintech industry at two of the largest banks in
London. She delivered the strategy to redesign the mobile banking apps of LBG for 10 million customers. Esther won
the Digital Star Award for her success through EveryWoman in Technology. Scaling a Customer Experience team at
RBS led her to write an article for Mind the Product about deepening empathy. Recently she led the delivery of the
Zero Contact initiative at Domino’s Pizza Enterprises to keep customers and staff safe across nine global markets, and
she is currently a mentor through the Women In Technology mentoring program in Brisbane, Australia.
About Rebecca Komathy
Rebecca attended California State University, Long Beach, where she earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing with a
concentration in Fiction. After working in the publishing and English education fields, she became more interested in the
information science and business aspects. She is attending SJSU for her second Master’s, this time in Library and
Information Science so she can learn more about digital services & curation. She currently works at Aggregage as a
Webinar Coordinator. When she’s not working, she is probably snuggling with her French bulldog named Kira.
The Connected Journey:
Developing your Empathy to Strengthen
Strategies for Customer Relations

5. ESTHER KIEFT
The
Connected
Journey
DEVELOPING YOUR EMPATHY TO STRENGTHEN
STRATEGIES FOR CUSTOMER RELATIONS

6. • What is empathy?
• Why is it important in product management and for businesses
generally?
• Strategies you can use to foster empathy
• How those strategies need to evolve during a pandemic
• How organisations are developing new or adjusting existing
products with empathy in mind
• Thinking about empathy beyond our customers
• Summary & further reading
Agenda

7. What is
empathy?
In product management it can best be described as the ability to put
yourself in the shoes of your customer

8. Develop better
products
You need to act on your empathy in order for the
benefits of customer empathy to be visible - make
product decisions with empathy in mind.
Positively impact
the bottom line
"The top 10 companies in the Global Empathy Index
2015 increased in value more than twice as much as
the bottom 10, and generated 50% more earnings"
(HBR, 2016)

9. Strategies to foster
empathy
Book in regular customer
testing (ideally once a sprint).
Invite the entire team to attend
(including business analysts,
developers, testers etc.)
Get early customer
input, listen and
iterate
Consider your different types of
customers through personas.
Personas need to be visible to
add value.
Don't just spend time
creating personas, use
the personas as well
The language we use can make
such a difference.
Qualitative data can be a
powerful tool to generate
empathy.
Users versus
customers versus
humans

10. Evolve those strategies
during a pandemic
Assumptions about previous
customer behaviour may not be
relevant today.
Continue to keep your finger on
the pulse by using remote
testing tools.
Continue learning,
don't rely on dated
customer research
"People are ‘extremely sensitive
to tone and motive. Are you
reaching out to help them — or
to sell them something? Does
your outreach feel authentic and
caring — or does it appear self-
serving?" (PWC, 2020)
It is even more crucial
to be empathic in your
communication
You may not have had access to
certain customer groups
through in person customer
research/testing. See this as an
opportunity to include these
customer groups.
An opportunity to
reach customers with
mobility issues

11. "Organisations'
focus shifting
to safety,
security and
essential
needs"
Offering support/training to vulnerable customers to ensure
they can fulfil their banking needs online (Lloyds Banking
Group)
Launch of a COVID-19 social bond to provide financing to
the most affected (BBVA)
Financial services industry
Contactless options being offered to customers to minimise
interactions with staff, including car side delivery in the US
(Domino's)
Quick service retail industry
(UNGERMAN ET AL, 2020)
Offering Uber Connect and Uber Direct to move goods
instead of people (Uber)
Transportation industry

12. They say travel is the
best education
Travel outside your office (virtually) and speak to potential or existing customers, you may be
surprised by what people have to say.
You will go on to build better products, and your customers will thank you for it.

13. • C + R Research. (n.d.). Changes in Grocery Shopping Habits During COVID-19.
https://www.crresearch.com/coronavirus-shopping-habits
• Minter Dial. (2020). Measure it, Embrace it – Building Empathy in Business with Belinda
Parmar. https://www.minterdial.com/2020/04/empathy-business-belinda-parmar/
• Parmer, B. (2016). The Most Empathetic Companies, 2016. https://hbr.org/2016/12/the-most-and-least-empathetic-
companies-2016
• PWC. (n.d.). COVID-19 Collaboration Series - Reimagining Customer Experience post COVID-19 into Recovery.
https://www.pwc.com.au/about-us/insights/non-executive-directors/responding-to-customer-behaviour.html
• Strauss, V. (2017). The surprising thing Google learned about its employees — and what it means for today’s students.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/12/20/the-surprising-thing-google-learned-about-
its-employees-and-what-it-means-for-todays-students/
• Ungerman, K., Malfara, D. & Fabricio, D. (2020). Connecting with customers in times of crisis.
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/connecting-with-customers-in-
times-of-crisis
Further reading

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15. 15
Q&A
Rebecca Komathy
With: Moderated by:
Delivery Manager (Group Technology),
Domino's Pizza Enterprises
LinkedIn page: /in/estherlisakieft
Twitter ID: @Dominos_AU
Website: dominos.com.au
Esther Kieft
Webinar Coordinator, Product Management Today
LinkedIn page: /in/rebeccakomathy/
Twitter ID: @ProdMgmtToday
Website: productmanagementtoday.com
https://www.productmanagementtoday.com/frs/14021224/the-connected-journey--developing-your-
empathy-to-strengthen-strategies-for-customer-relations/
The Connected Journey:
Developing your Empathy to Strengthen
Strategies for Customer Relations