Consumer 2021: Lean into empathy for a customer experience shoppers will trust

This is the view of VMLY&R chief experience officer Karen Boswell, and head of D2C and commerce Charlie Wade, who spoke at RWRC’s Consumer 2021 week. 

As part of a week of multichannel content about how to serve the future shopper, they shared insights on the impact of the pandemic on customer experience during their keynote event The Great Customer Experience Redesign.

“CX is a human and holistic way to solve both brand and business growth challenges,” said Boswell. “‘Human’ is about human-centred design thinking, being human for humans, and solving with that empathy-focused lens.”

She highlighted that after a turbulent 2020, retailers must remember their customers may have been both financially and emotionally impacted, and advised that this context should be front of mind when it comes to CX. 

“We’re not only designing for touchless digital experiences, but we also need to understand the context of the emotion and the feeling and the need around every instance across the journey,” Boswell said. 

• Watch the event on demand

Four major market shifts driven by customers

Wade noted that he does not believe the pandemic has changed the retail landscape, but it has instead accelerated the development of already established trends. He underlined four major market shifts: ecommerce; physical spaces; community; and customer promise. 

“The thing all four of these have in common is that it’s the customers that are demanding and driving the change. So retailers need to adapt their customer experience accordingly,” he said. 

How can they achieve this? 

According to the experts, as well as ensuring the customer journey is contextual and collaborative, retailers should relinquish some of their control to the customer and allow them to buy inventory on their terms, “whenever, wherever”.

Retailers should also focus on ensuring their customer experience is customised, said Boswell, which will help them to earn trust and subsequently gather first-party data that empowers them to deliver an increasingly personalised experience.  

Wade highlighted that brands rooted in purpose are rising above industry and societal upheaval – and that Gen Z consumers are driving much of this coronavirus-catalysed shift.

“In the future, might we see economic commitments like ‘every little helps’ give way to sustainability commitments like radical transparency?” he asked. 

He cited Patagonia’s Worn Wear upcycle scheme, which encourages consumers to buy less, as an example of why brands should now “think before and beyond the buy button” in order to ramp up customer trust and engagement rather than simply aiming to boost sales. 

“They’re giving themselves a position within the market and taking a stand,” said Wade.