Learn to see the world through your customer's eyes!
🎯 What You'll Learn:
✅ What empathy means and why it's powerful
✅ 5 practical methods to understand users deeply
✅ How to conduct interviews that reveal true needs
✅ Common mistakes to avoid
✅ Real Indian company examples
📖 The Story of Titan's Ladies Watch Success
⌚ How Titan Understood Indian Women
The Challenge: In the 1990s, Titan wanted to create watches for Indian women.
At first, they thought: "Let's make small, gold-colored watches with flowers!"
But they stopped and asked: "Do we really understand what women want?"
What They Did (Empathize Phase):
🏠 Visited women's homes and watched their morning routines
💼 Followed working women throughout their day
👥 Had chai with housewives and listened to their stories
🛍️ Observed women shopping for watches (what they liked, what they ignored)
💬 Asked open questions: "What frustrates you about your current watch?"
Surprising Discoveries:
✨ Women wanted elegance but also durability (not just decorative)
✨ They needed watches that worked in kitchens AND offices
✨ They preferred watches that could be dressed up OR down
✨ Water resistance was important (cooking, washing)
✨ They wanted to feel confident, not just pretty
💡 Result: Titan Raga was born - elegant yet practical watches that became India's #1 choice for women!
Key Lesson: If Titan had just guessed, they would have made "pretty but useless" watches.
By empathizing - really understanding women's lives - they created something women actually needed!
🤔 What is Empathy?
Empathy is NOT sympathy (feeling sorry for someone).
Empathy is putting yourself in someone else's shoes - feeling what they feel,
seeing what they see, experiencing what they experience.
🏢 Office Example:
❌ Without Empathy:
"Customers are complaining about our app. Let's add more features to make them happy!"
✅ With Empathy:
"Let me actually watch customers use our app. Maybe it's not about adding features -
maybe they find it confusing or slow? Let me understand first."
🛠️ 5 Powerful Methods to Empathize
1. 👀 Observation (Shadowing)
What: Watch people in their natural environment doing their tasks.
How:
Be a silent observer - don't interrupt
Notice body language, frustrations, workarounds
Take photos/videos (with permission)
Write down everything - even small details matter
🇮🇳 Example: BigBasket observed how housewives shop for vegetables. They noticed women
squeezing tomatoes to check freshness. So BigBasket added detailed product photos and
"freshness guaranteed" promises to build trust online!
2. 💬 Interviews (Deep Conversations)
What: Have one-on-one conversations to understand feelings and motivations.
Golden Rules:
✅ Ask "Why?" five times to dig deeper
✅ Ask open questions: "Tell me about..." not "Do you like..."
✅ Listen 80%, talk 20%
✅ Focus on stories, not opinions
❌ Don't lead: "Wouldn't you prefer...?" (This forces your idea!)
❌ Don't defend: "But we made it easy!" (Listen, don't argue!)
🏦 Example: HDFC Bank's designers interviewed rural customers. Instead of asking
"Do you like our app?", they asked "Show me how you send money to your family."
They discovered people were scared of making mistakes. Result? HDFC added confirmation
screens before every transaction!
3. 📝 Surveys & Questionnaires
What: Collect information from many people quickly.
Best Practices:
Keep it short (max 10 questions)
Mix multiple choice with open-ended questions
Avoid technical jargon - use simple language
Test your survey with 2-3 people first
⚠️ Warning: Surveys tell you WHAT people say, not WHY they do it.
Always combine surveys with interviews or observations!
4. 🎭 Role-Playing (Experience It Yourself)
What: Pretend to be your customer and experience their journey.
How to Do It:
Try using your own product/service as a customer would
Follow all the steps they would take
Note every frustration, confusion, or delay
✈️ Example: IndiGo's senior managers regularly fly as regular passengers
(not in special seats). They stand in queues, handle their own luggage, eat the same food.
This helps them spot problems passengers face!
5. 📊 Empathy Mapping
What: A visual tool to organize what you learned about users.
Four Quadrants:
👀 SAYS: What they tell you
💭 THINKS: What they believe (may differ from what they say!)
💪 DOES: Actions they take
❤️ FEELS: Emotions (happy, frustrated, anxious)
🎯 Interactive Activity: Practice Empathy!
Click on each scenario to see good vs bad empathy questions:
Scenario 1: Customer Service App 📱
You're designing a customer service app for a telecom company...
👆 Click to reveal questions
❌ Bad Questions:
"Would you use an app to solve your problems?"
"Don't you think chatbots are convenient?"
✅ Good Questions:
"Tell me about the last time you had a problem with your phone connection."
"How did that make you feel?"
"Show me what you did to solve it."
"What was the most frustrating part?"
Scenario 2: Office Cafeteria 🍛
Your company wants to improve the office cafeteria...
👆 Click to reveal questions
❌ Bad Questions:
"Do you like the food?"
"Should we add more varieties?"
✅ Good Questions:
"Describe your typical lunch break to me."
"What do you usually do when you don't like what's being served?"
"How much time do you have for lunch?"
"What would make your lunch experience better?"
Scenario 3: E-learning Platform 📚
Creating online courses for working professionals...
👆 Click to reveal questions
❌ Bad Questions:
"Would you prefer video or text?"
"Do you like short courses?"
✅ Good Questions:
"Tell me about the last time you tried to learn something new."
"What stopped you from finishing?"
"When and where do you usually try to learn?"
"What keeps you motivated to continue learning?"
🇮🇳 More Indian Corporate Success Stories
🏍️ Hero MotoCorp - Understanding Rural India
Challenge: How to sell motorcycles in rural India?
Empathy Approach:
Engineers lived in villages for weeks
Rode on rough village roads daily
Talked to farmers about their needs
Observed how motorcycles were used (often carrying goods, not just people!)
Result: Hero Splendor - durable, fuel-efficient,
affordable. Became India's best-selling motorcycle for 20+ years! 🏆
🍫 Amul - The Taste of India
Empathy Secret: Amul deeply understands Indian families' emotions and culture.
Understood Indians see milk as pure and healthy (not just a beverage)
Recognized families want affordable quality
Created campaigns that reflect Indian life (Amul girl billboards)
Result: India's most trusted brand for 50+ years!
💳 PhonePe - Simplifying Digital Payments
Empathy Insight: Many Indians were scared of digital payments.
What they understood:
People feared losing money to hackers
Many didn't understand English banking terms
They wanted instant confirmation
Solution: Simple interface in multiple Indian languages,
instant "payment successful" sound, and easy UPI process. Result: 400+ million users!
🎮 Drag & Drop: Match Empathy Methods!
Drag each situation to the best empathy method:
Situations:
Understanding what 1000+ users think
Seeing how someone uses your app
Deep conversation about motivations
Trying your product as a customer would
Methods:
📝 Survey
👀 Observation
💬 Interview
🎭 Role-Playing
📝 Quick Revision Points
❤️ Empathy = Understanding people by experiencing their world
👀 Observation: Watch people in their natural environment
📝 Surveys: Good for numbers, combine with interviews for depth
🎭 Role-Play: Experience your product/service as a customer
📊 Empathy Map: Organize insights into Says/Thinks/Does/Feels
🇮🇳 Success Stories: Titan, Hero, Amul, PhonePe all started with empathy
✅ Don't assume - ask and observe!
✅ Focus on stories and emotions, not just opinions
❌ Never defend your product during empathy phase - just learn!
🎯 Your Action Item:
This week, practice empathy! Talk to 3 colleagues about a workplace problem.
Use the interview techniques you learned. Ask "Why?" at least 3 times.
Write down what you discover - you'll be surprised how much you learn!