Customer Empathy must not be confused with the notion of feeling sorry for the customer and expressing compassion rather empathy in the modern context is demonstrating respect for the customer and showing high levels of care, concern, consideration and most importantly desire to provide the mechanisms by which their needs and expectations are translated in terms of value and also to enable them to take part in shaping their own individualized experiences. Intimacy is the trigger mechanism by which an empathetic organization can demonstrate its high levels of customer centricity. Intimacy means gaining full knowledge and awareness of everything that concerns the customers in terms of their preferences, their needs and expectations and their wishes for having enjoyable, memorable, and fulfilling experiences. In today's business environment fueled by digital technology, intimacy can be made possible by tracking and mapping customers' journeys but also everything that concerns their wider interactions, and even gaining intimacy on the basis of learning more about customers behaviours, choices, and social interactions. This series of customer empathy titles depict the path of total empathy management by covering critical aspects associated with the need for customer proactive engagement, the organization's commitment to demonstrating care and concern for its customer base, the core aspects of delivering unique, personalized and memorable experiences and in turn gaining customers commitment in terms of loyalty, advocacy, and even long-term attraction to the brand that serves them in a unique, differentiated and powerful way. At a higher level, the suite of titles positions empathy from the point of view of building an ability to inspire with novelty, with pioneering thinking and translated through the constant introduction of new innovations that add value and maintain the wow factor. Furthermore, empathy through all of its critical aspects and customer journey points must be measured in terms of the impact generated as opposed to measuring on a linear basis the service provision from a push perspective. The impression that is created on the customer through value provision and through the commitment to have the customer in the driving seat by engaging them and allowing them to co-create and collaborate for driving their own personalized experiences, is a capability that every organization operating in the 21st century must possess. And the saying goes like this, By creating the right impression, we generate the positive expression from the customer. So in all, the starting point with this important topic called customer empathy, the basic fundamentals must be in place and these are covered in the suite of titles, which will be extended in the future by focusing more on the blend of psychological, physical, and emotional aspects of managing empathy at the higher level.
