Give me empathy

Like probably every designer, I have a collection of quotes about the purpose of design and in particular the need for user research from non-designers.

“We don’t need something fancy,
we just need something that works.”

We designers seek comfort in the knowledge that we all know these conversations and that we have to deal with similar opposition. But behind a feigned indifference often lurks a feeling of helplessness and exhaustion. Because what we hear is: “We don’t need user experience, we don’t need design, we don’t need you.”

“We don’t need some overblown user experience.
Our users have to use this tool.”

We understand the value.

Often we struggle to counter those quotes properly. We desperately scramble for arguments that might change their minds without discrediting their expertise, credibility or standing.

We talk about assumptions and validation, the costs of finding out too late or the cost of human error. We talk about solving problems and outcomes. We talk about user journeys and great opportunities. We talk about rapid prototyping, experimentation and innovation.

We have perfected this into a well-choreographed justification dance to the sweet music of the big four business goals: push growth, increase profit, reduce costs and mitigate risks.

But actually there is no reason for us to feel insecure and dance because the proof is on our side:

“We don’t have enough time to do research”
When organisations invest in UX during a project’s concept phase, they reduce product development cycles by 33 to 50%. — Improve Customer Experience with UX Investments that Increase ROI, Interaction Design Foundation

“There is no budget for research”
According to a study undertaken by Forrester, companies which invest in the user experience see a lower cost of customer acquisition, lower support costs, increased customer retention and increased market share. — Amazon AWS

“It’s not worth it”
Every dollar invested in UX brings $100 in return. This is an average figure, but it’s a ROI of an impressive 9,900%. — Forbes

Not everyone knows these numbers, but I’m sure everyone can name at least three companies that are globally known for their extraordinary success by creating unique and great user experiences.

Surveys also show that we generally understand the value of a delightful user experience.

94% of respondents in a report, by Harvard Business Review and Thoughtworks, say that it is very or extremely important for their organisation to deliver industry-leading customer experiences to be successful.

But the report also shows that almost no organisation thinks they are doing a good job regarding customer experience.

Only 10% say their organisation is extremely effective at delivering industry-leading customer experiences today.

Only 15% strongly agree that their organisation has a holistic, end-to-end CX strategy and approach

You can download the report here

But even with all this evidence we’re still dancing, and the quotes keep coming. After one of these dances I had a thought: We all know bad user experience.

We feel the value.

I’m sure we can all remember a few moments when we were completely frustrated by interacting with a bad product. A product that we then simply stopped using. Subscriptions that we then cancelled. Products that we were forced to continue using. Or worse still, products that have really harmed us.

Let’s give it a try:

• Think of a product you stopped using because of a bad experience.
• Think of a product you have to use, because there is no alternative.
• Think of a product that caused you damage or harm.

I’m afraid it wasn’t difficult to find an example for at least two of these questions. This experience means that we have also learned an emotional response that helps us to empathise with others that have had this experience.

We all understand good user experience intuitively on an emotional level.

We know better.

There is a comprehensive list of first principles that describe all the acceptance criteria to design a good user experience from aesthetics to accessibility.

We understand how information has to be structured and presented to be perceivable and understandable. We know how to design interactions to be intuitive and delightful.

We have experts that know how to create delightful user experiences. And we have a rapidly evolving repertoire of tools and technologies that enable us to turn science fiction into science facts.

So let’s recap:

1. We understand that investing in user experience is good for business.
2. We have experienced on a personal and emotional level how important a good user experience is.
3. We have the experts, tools and technology to create delightful user experiences.

So what is missing? Why do we still treat user experience like an irrelevant add-on? My answer is: human connection.

The magic of empathy

Human connection is about developing a deep understanding about our users. Human connection introduces empathy and empathy unlocks a whole new world of possibilities.

Empathy is trying to see the world from another’s person’s point of view. Empathy makes us more kind, understanding and compassionate. We cringe when someone hits their shin, because we know how much this must hurt from our own experience.

Empathy of course has its limitations. We can only fully empathise with a feeling we know ourselves. It will therefore be difficult for us to empathise with experiences that are completely unknown to us. Empathy is like a muscle that needs to be challenged by different human experiences and perspectives to grow strong.

But ultimately empathy is the one great power that inspires us to do great things for other people.

So if we are willingly choosing not to invest in the best possible experience for our users, my guess is that there is a void of empathy. More specifically, I think this is because there is no real human counterpart to our empathy.

From “at customers” to “for users”

Many projects happen at a stage where we develop features at customers. At this stage customers are not really human beings but an abstract business concept without human individuality. Customers are transactions that are measured in sales figures and cost saving.

The “at” flow

The flow of work of developing features at customers looks fundamentally different from a workflow that is driven by empathy.

The “at” workflow, of course highly simplified, starts with performance numbers and a selected group of managers and strategists that come up with features to improve those numbers. Features often support activities that are not exactly mapped to a task or a goal, like uploading a document, or logging in. Those features then get handed to developer teams and get developed and deployed. When the numbers improve the feature must have worked. If not then … it usually was someone’s fault

The “for” flow

By creating a human connection, we turn customers into real people, let’s call them ‘users’ for simplicity’s sake. Users are not transactions, users are interaction. Users have goals, tasks, needs, thoughts, feelings, expectations, motivations, aspirations.

By establishing a human, we inevitably trigger a logical sequence of consequences. Empathy brings us to problem statements that describe our users’ reality from our unique point of view. This fuels our creativity to find solutions to achieve a certain outcome*.

*Outcome describes a change in user behaviour that positively impacts our business goals.

Good ideas inspire great ideas, which presents us with a nice challenge as we try to figure out which ones work best.

The “for” workflow is highly collaborative, cross-functional and organic. The “for” workflow creates impact and value that can’t be copied or countered by any competition without at least the same effort and investment.

But the “for” workflow needs to start with empathy. It needs to start with the user.

“Focus on the user and the rest will follow”

This is number one of Google’s Ten things we know to be true. For me, it is one of the most profound principles of all. By focusing on the user we create a connection to ourselves that allows empathy to grow. By focusing on the user we remember that we had similar experiences and that we all are users who love delightful products. Focusing on the user is the greatest catalyst for positive change.

Without this the term ‘user’ is merely a placeholder in business discussions. It is a bucket for all of our assumptions about the value and impact of what we are doing. Without this shift we create products at users, not for them.

Of course we are often lucky with our guesses and come up with a decent product. But the question is are lucky guesses a sustainable and scalable business model? Does it present us with a strong advantage towards our competition or is it enough to address all the risks that derive from this mindset.

User empathy has an impact that goes far beyond user experience. By creating an environment that focuses on the user we invest in creating human connections and in training our range of empathy. And this changes everythings for a project.

It will change our understanding of real problems and their significance for our users. It will change our team topologies and ways of working. It will help to refine our vision for the business.

So let’s give us more empathy.