Humanizing the Design Thinking way!

In this fast paced, artificially conversing world with highly digitized pseudo-human interactions (bots), we tend to get away with the fact that there is a living, breathing human who makes decisions at the back of every interaction.

How much ever we may consciously choose to ignore this, we need to understand that implementing the “human” element will certainly be a key differentiator in this crowded, impersonal online space. Empathy-driven human interactions will always dictate the course of business. After all, we humans are social beings.

However, the solution lies in the meaningful application of technology. How do we use this highly intuitive, predictive and prescriptive conversational technology in an emotional, visual, vocal, tactile and actionable way to create a memorable experience for the customer?

This certainly is a challenge for Marketers. And if you want marketing to thrive in this situation – going the Design thinking way is one of the solutions.

Design thinking for marketing is a pragmatic approach to create customer-centric products/solutions and memorable customer experiences resulting in increased brand loyalty and sales. It is not about making a brand look cool to the audience, rather a methodical way to problem-solving that lets marketers come up with new and exciting ideas that “speak” with customers.

It is an iterative approach that seeks to comprehend users, redefine complications, and challenge assumptions intended to discover alternative solutions and strategies that may not be visible immediately with our initial level of understanding.?

The question is, “How do we create and scale a design plan that aligns with the company culture for real market impact?” Because businesses still don’t care about Design Thinking; they only care about outcomes.

Design Thinking can help you arrive at the best solution with the following steps:

• Empathize and analyze the unmet needs of the customer
• Establish a point-of-view based on visible patterns and incubate solutions by brainstorming
• Design wireframes and storyboards through visual prototypes
• Assess the solutions for feasibility and viability
• Introduce focus groups for validating the solution?
• Implement and repeat?

So, how can we solve the above-stated challenge for marketers using the Design Thinking approach? It is by thinking about marketing wearing a human hat:

1. Bryan Kramer, the champion of the Human-2-Human movement, says “stop trying to be perfect and talk like an actual human.” In simple words, businesses need to talk like a real person. We do not need an over-engineered, robotic language to impress folks visiting our website. A “simple” phrase and easy words do the trick.
2. A customer success narrative is the right antidote to conventional sales elevator pitches. According to a research by Headstream, “if people love a brand story, 55% are more likely to buy the product in future, 44% will share the story, and 15% will buy the product immediately.” Hence storytelling is another compelling “human” element for marketers.
3. A DemandGen study found that 84% of buyers seek inputs from peers and existing users, while another report reveals that up to 80% of B2B buyers’ purchasing decisions are based on “direct or indirect customer experience.” So, to set aside the skeptical perception of marketing claims, user-generated content (UGC) is another vital element in the toolbox.
4. Transparency is the other key element and a vital trust-builder. So, it’s okay to proactively divulge shortcomings of products or solutions to get ahead of peers and address the buyer’s inhibitions beforehand.
5. Giving a human touch to the interactive web bots by offering a casual dialogue in the language preferred by the buyer goes miles in establishing comfort and brand preference.
6. My instinct says, “Let’s go after this prospect.” How many times have you heard this from sales leaders while planning for their Target Account Lists? Applying well-rounded, proven marketing research techniques by defining an ideal customer profile and supporting with historical numbers for macro and micro campaigns bring far better results than instinctive thinking.

So, if you want marketing to prosper - Design Thinking has to run the show.

Humanizing marketing today will build trust. It beats into people’s emotions; one of the most important elements in the decision-making process.?

A question then arises - Does it open gates for marketers to a whole new world of “Empathetic AI?”

Thank you for taking time to read my article. Feel free to discuss ideas, challenges you have faced or learnings you have from the topic in discussion in the comments section. OR write to me at [email protected] or simply inbox me to start a conversation.