We’re living in a unique time, and the global coronavirus pandemic has forced many businesses to re-think how they interact with customers. More than ever before, digital interactions are the way we must do business; but the world of digital interactions is notoriously harsh. In your digital marketing efforts, how can you show empathy during a time of crisis?

 

1. Acknowledge People’s Fears

Acknowledging fears isn’t the same thing as feeding them or even agreeing that the person should be afraid about whatever it is that concerns them. It’s simply recognizing that the fears are real feelings the person is having.

Everyone has a right to feel the way they do, and you show empathy when you openly address this. “It’s easy to feel fearful during times like these” or “It’s right to be concerned about something as serious as COVID-19” are great conversation starters that show empathy with what’s bothering your customers (and your employees) the most.

2. Alleviate People’s Fears

You can’t always take fears away entirely, but are there steps you can take in your digital marketing to show how you’re going out of your way to protect your customers from what they’re afraid of? The current pandemic offers a perfect opportunity to launch a digital campaign that says: Here’s how we’re continuing to meet your needs while also keeping you safe.


Say, for instance, that you own a landscaping company. You might not think there’s any need to specify how you’re putting social distancing measures in place. After all, as a landscaper, there’s really no need to go into someone’s home, and it’s fairly easy to stay six feet away when you’re all outside. You might assume your customers will think this way: but what if they don’t?

By proactively communicating to them exactly what steps you’re putting in place to ensure a “no-touch” experience from beginning to end, you alleviate fears and show that you empathize with your customer’s concerns.

3. Listen Actively

During any crisis, people are scared, and when people are scared, some of the normal rules of behavior don’t apply. But one thing that helps to calm anyone is lending a friendly ear. When people have a chance to voice their worries, those worries lose some of their power. Even expressing them in words, either verbally or in writing, can make it easier to think through fears more critically and find ways to deal with them.

Offer your customers or potential clients a listening ear. Invite them to discuss their concerns with you via social media or by email or other digital communication, and not just in relation to what you offer. How is the current crisis affecting their families or futures? Listen to what they’re saying and then respond in ways that show you’ve heard.

4. Be Flexible

Flexibility shows you’re thinking about more than just your bottom line. It shows you’re thinking about people, whether those people are your own employees or your customers. Now isn’t the time to say “well, that’s just not the way we do things.” Now is the time to find new ways to do things to keep your business running while protecting your people and your customers.

This could mean re-vamping systems to make it easier for people to work from home. It might mean absorbing the convenience charge for credit card payments now that your customers can’t pay by cash or check. Flexibility could be instituting new ways of sanitizing an office. As an example, consider that currently, there is no evidence that the coronavirus spreads through the food chain. If you make a specialized snack food, then, it might not be strictly necessary to change anything about how you do things. But can you show empathy and flexibility by changing anyway?

By increasing the distance between employees, instituting hourly sanitation protocols, asking everyone to wash their hands at specific intervals, and temporarily changing packaging so nothing is reused and more things can be simply thrown safely away, you’re showing a flexibility that goes a long way towards connecting you with your customers. Use your digital marketing campaign to alert people to how you’re being flexible during these times and responding to their needs and concerns.

5. Focus on Them, Not You

Advertising has traditionally been all about the benefits of the product or service being offered. Whatever it is, it’s faster, better, cleaner, stronger, or cheaper than what others offer. But what if you turned it around and focused on the customer and what they need instead of what your product or service can do? Can you demonstrate that your product can fulfill needs, wants, and feelings effectively, and how will it do that?

A focus on your customers goes beyond just connecting your product or service to their needs, as important as that is. It also means thinking of ways you can fulfill needs that have nothing to do with your actual product or which give people a certain feeling about you. Consider the example of a brick-and-mortar store in Maine–currently closed–but which is daily putting up teddy bears in different outfits in their window.

Children on their walks during the pandemic enjoy finding the bears and seeing the different outfits, and this simple action delights the children and offers support to parents. The store is creating a certain feeling while they show empathy at the same time. It’s possible to do the same sorts of things within the digital realm, too.

6. Carefully Consider Your Medium

All the different communication channels have their strengths and weaknesses, and showing empathy also involves choosing the right channel for your communications. Some things are easy to communicate through a short, punchy medium like Twitter. At other times, a personal email would be the better choice. In still other situations, the right move is likely a video, where people can see a friendly face and connect with the tone of voice and body language involved.

To make the right decision about a communication channel, put yourself in someone else’s shoes for a bit. Remember that it’s easy to misunderstand feelings through writing, so it’s especially important to choose your words carefully when there’s no face or voice to connect with the experience.

On the other hand, some people think of videos as a waste of their time, especially if they don’t believe the message is very important or if it could have been boiled down to a couple of sentences easily scanned in an email. Show empathy in your communication by taking the time to think about how others want to connect.

Empathy Is Possible in Digital Marketing

Your digital marketing campaign can show empathy during this time of crisis, even in the digital world. By communicating that empathy effectively, you’re saying something about your values as a brand, building customer loyalty, and setting yourself up for greater success down the line.

At LeadExperts, we can help you create the kind of campaign that gets the results you need. You pick the monthly goals and what you need the most help with, and then we help you turn leads and data into actionable campaigns that make a difference to your bottom line while strengthening your brand reputation. To learn more, visit LeadExperts today for a free consultation.