FIELD Global Immersion: Developing Customer Empathy

The Design Thinking process begins with empathizing with potential customers. Empathizing, being aware of, interpreting, and understanding the thoughts of others, as well as being able to vicariously experience them oneself, requires the careful and deliberate study of consumers. Extensive use of qualitative methods, such as observation, interviews, and focus groups, that provide rich, thick descriptions of consumer behavior can be essential for building this understanding. Once product or service prototypes are developed, quantitative methods, such as surveys, experiments, and in-market tests, can help assess their viability in the market.