What A Stroller Taught Me About Customer Experience
Some of us are inherently empaths (I’m pretty sure I’m a “highly sensitive person,” or at least borderline HSP), but all of us can build empathy through experience. Like the other day when I took my stroller through a community college campus and needed to use the bathroom.
Stick with me—there’s a business lesson here.
The campus had frequent restrooms and they were all marked with the handicap accessibility sign. Perfect, in theory. But as I tried to prop open these heavy doors and shove my stroller through before it slammed into us, I suddenly realized what this experience might be like for someone in a wheelchair (or living with some other physical disability). How could it be so difficult to simply use the bathroom?
The bathroom doors weren’t mechanized (like some of the exterior building doors were), and there were TWO doors to get through since the door from the hallway led into this tight air lock space. I was wedged in there, confused about whether I should somehow turn around and back in, or lean over and somehow pull the door open before making a run for it. Then even after I managed to get in, I had the same battle leaving the bathroom. Suffice to say, it didn’t feel accessible and it didn’t feel like it was made for “someone like me.”
So here’s where the business throughline comes into play.
We can create an empathetic business by keeping our audience in mind. Constantly put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Have you tested your onboarding process and your download links? Are you considering their fears, struggles, and goals? Is your copy resonant and your instructions clear?
Incorporating a little empathy in your business can go a long way in both your marketing and your operations. Empathy will make your business more effective at solving the problems you aim to solve for the people you want to serve. And it’ll make your customers feel seen, heard, and valued so that they keep coming back and recommend you to others like them. All good things, right?
So, let me know how you leverage empathy in your business, or where you think there may be some gaps.
Toward purpose and progress,
Ashlee
This is an excerpt from Toward Purpose & Progress, my newsletter where I share business tips, good news, shoutouts to Founder Friends, and other juicy snippets. Subscribe here for more rants, reflections, and resources.