Do you ever wonder why Netflix seems to know exactly what you want to watch? It’s all thanks to their data-driven approach. But here’s the twist: while their algorithms are great at predicting what you might like, they’ve also led to some big missteps. Take shows like The OA and Sense8. These weren’t ‘just’ TV series; they had real, passionate fan bases. Netflix’s focus on raw viewership numbers led them to cancel these shows, missing out on the emotional and cultural impact they had. Clearly algorithms can’t capture the emotional connections that content creates.

This brings up a crucial point: in a world increasingly driven by tech and AI, businesses can easily lose touch with what really matters to their customers. Relying only on data can give you a superficial understanding of your audiences – one that misses the deeper emotional currents and context. So, how can brands avoid this pitfall?

Bridging the empathy gap through meaningful connections

The key is to move beyond the numbers and truly cultivate an ‘empathy culture’ among your internal stakeholders. This isn’t just about understanding your consumers, it’s about building a deep connection with your audiences. While companies have long tried to get close to consumers using marketing research, true empathy has often been missing from the equation. Think about how encounters between brands and consumers such as focus groups often resemble a metaphorical zoo visit – where marketers observe consumers from a distance in a one-off encounter but don’t engage with them meaningfully. This lab-like setting doesn’t allow for a real conversation or understanding. It’s here that the ‘empathy gap’ arises – the disconnect between the day-to-day realities of consumers and the business stakeholders who design products and experiences for them.

Closing this empathy gap requires more than just data; it demands that stakeholders immerse themselves in the world of their consumers. True consumer empathy isn’t just about knowledge or sympathy. It’s about stepping into the consumer’s shoes, seeing the world from their perspective and, most importantly, taking action to address their needs.

The good news is that consumer empathy can be nurtured and developed. While some may naturally possess higher empathy levels, it’s a skill that can be enhanced with the right training, practice, and genuine commitment. By fostering an environment where employees regularly connect with consumers on a human level, businesses can drive more relevant, consumer-aligned decisions – ultimately creating products and services that resonate deeply and succeed in the marketplace.

Shattering the executive bubble to step into the shoes of consumers

Talking about products that resonate, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella​ says: “When I think of innovation the word that comes to mind is empathy”​. He stresses the importance of empathy to successfully meet the unmet and unarticulated needs of consumers – which is the heart of innovation. But it’s not just about flipping an “empathy switch” at work – it’s about letting life’s experiences shape how to become more empathetic and listen beyond the words that consumers use.

Yet, many internal stakeholders are far removed from the daily lives of their customers, living in their ‘executive bubble’ which leads to misguided decisions. On top of that there are several significant cognitive biases that can make it hard for business stakeholders to truly understand what consumers are asking for and empathize with them. The confirmation bias, for instance, leads people to favour evidence that supports their beliefs, while rejecting conflicting data. Another bias, the sunk cost fallacy, drives marketers to persist with failing initiatives simply because they’ve already invested time and resources, even when benefits no longer justify the effort. Efforts to connect with consumers and immerse in their lives can help reprogram these biases, foster empathy and overcome the disconnect between consumers and internal stakeholders. An example of someone who successfully broke out of his ‘executive bubble’ is Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky. He lived in his company’s rentals for six months, truly stepping into the shoes of his brand’s users, to better understand user pain points. These experiences ultimately led to reshaping the platform with more than 50 new features and improvements and the introduction of AirBnB rooms – room rentals as a low-cost option to house rentals.

Not only does consumer empathy shatter the executive bubble and reduce cognitive biases, it also improves the ROI from insights . A brand’s performance is largely determined by the millions of decisions made by employees every day. The more these decisions are taken with a rich, clear and aligned understanding of the humans behind them, the greater the chances of organisational success. Brands that consistently engage with consumers tend to outperform their competitors. Customer-centric companies report 41% faster revenue growth, 49% faster profit growth and 51% better customer retention. Simply put, the more businesses understand and empathise with their customers, the more they thrive.

Building an empathy culture to go from data to depth

As we’ve just explained, in essence it starts with acknowledging that you, as a marketeer or business stakeholder, are not your consumer and foster an ‘empathy culture’ to close that gap. There are different ways brands can build such an empathy culture. This by taking stakeholders beyond the data, showing them their consumers’ world though consumer immersion and human to human connections. Consumer immersion experiences involve stakeholders actively stepping into the shoes of consumers to gain a deeper understanding of their needs and pain points. For example, for the Samsung Shopper Insights team we orchestrated a ‘retail safari’ in New York City, where 30 team members explored various retail environments to uncover shopper challenges. They were tasked with experiencing these places as shoppers and documenting key insights. This exercise yielded over 250 insights and led to more than 80 ideas aimed at refining the Samsung Home Electronics experience.

Real-life consumer connections offer another powerful approach. By engaging directly with consumers during real-time interactions, stakeholders can build empathy and gain valuable feedback. For Haleon, for instance, we facilitated a series of connect sessions involving their R&D and innovation teams with consumers and healthcare professionals across the US, Italy, and the UK. Over 15 weeks, these sessions allowed Haleon’s teams to form genuine connections with their audience, which not only deepened their understanding and build empathy but also spurred innovative ideas for future products.

To truly embed consumer empathy into your business, it needs to be a core value embraced by everyone, not just those who deal directly with customers. Imagine if every team – from product developers to finance – viewed decisions through the lens of the consumer’s experience. By integrating consumer immersion experiences and real conversations with consumers into everyday practices, companies can transform how decisions are made. This shift doesn’t just make your products more relevant; it can fuel innovation and give you a real edge.