Blog
Ritualising consumer empathy for lasting business impact
Three essential steps for building a consumer empathy culture.


Delphine Vantomme
17 October 2024
4 min read
Did you make any New Year’s resolutions for 2024? And how many of those goals have lasted this far? Research shows that only 8% of people stick to their resolutions, largely because they fail to create a habit around them. The same principle applies to cultivating a culture of consumer empathy within your organisation. One-off, isolated initiatives aren’t enough. To truly embed the voice of the customer into everything you do, consumer empathy must become part of your business DNA. But how do you go beyond good intentions and make consumer empathy a natural, recurring part of your business processes?
Ritualise being close to your consumers
Key in making sure being close to consumers becomes an inherent part of your business culture is embedding human to human connections and consumer immersion into your existing business flow. Consumer empathy should be part of the company’s long-term vision and strategy, not just a box-ticking exercise.
1. Develop a communication and activation plan
Building an empathy culture doesn’t happen overnight. A structured communication and activation plan is essential to engage stakeholders for the long term, guiding them from initial awareness to full adoption. This involves a three-step approach:
- Communication and awareness: Start with a large-scale awareness campaign, ensuring that the purpose and significance of the empathy programme are understood at all levels of the organisation. A series of web chats or internal communications that clearly outline the role of CMI leads in the empathy programme will help set expectations.
- Onboarding: Introduce stakeholders to the programme via interactive sessions where teams are trained on how to communicate with consumers effectively. These sessions should be followed by an immediate empathy experience – such as consumer immersions – where stakeholders get their first taste of consumer interaction.
- Habit: For consumer empathy to truly stick, it needs to become second nature. At L’Oréal, for instance, we’ve used the habit loop framework – trigger, routine and reward – to integrate empathy into daily routines, making it both easy and rewarding. The process starts with triggers – key moments like drafting a new concept or preparing for a strategic workshop. Each time, stakeholders are prompted to connect with consumers for fresh insights. New hires are also encouraged to dive into empathy activities as part of their onboarding. To keep the momentum going, we send monthly newsletters as a reminder to book connect sessions. The routine involves engaging in these sessions, sharing insights with colleagues and applying them to real projects. The rewards? Beyond creative sparks and valuable insights, we’ve incorporated brand artefacts into empathy events, such as notebooks and tote bags, ensuring empathy becomes more than just a habit – it’s part of L’Oréal’s culture.

2. Leverage advocates
While a well-executed communication and activation plan will engage stakeholders, the key to sustaining a consumer empathy culture lies in creating internal advocates. These natural ambassadors play a vital role in keeping empathy top-of-mind across the business. Spanning different departments, they can inspire others by showcasing how consumer-centric thinking can lead to successful outcomes. Advocates also provide essential feedback to leadership, helping to fine-tune and adapt consumer empathy initiatives to align with the company’s evolving needs.
At the same time, leadership must take an active role in promoting these programmes. When top executives lead by example, sharing their own experiences of connecting with consumers, it sends a clear message that consumer empathy is a company-wide priority. Their visible participation in the programme encourages others to get involved, further embedding it into the company culture.
3. Capture and demonstrate value
For empathy programmes to be sustainable, it is key to demonstrate their value – both in changing stakeholder mindsets and driving business outcomes. One way to do this is by linking consumer empathy initiatives to strategic business themes, running projects and key moments in the company’s planning cycle. Going back to the case of L’Oréal, their Garnier international team integrated consumer connect sessions directly into their product development process. When preparing new launch plans, the team will talk to a few consumers to get inspired. Post-launch, connect sessions help the Prada team to get a first impression of the product’s reception in the market. By embedding empathy into their processes, L’Oréal ensures it’s an integral part of their business success. But assessing the ROI of empathy doesn’t stop at the project level. Company-wide, a yearly impact survey and regular qualitative check-ins can help track how the empathy programme is influencing stakeholder behaviour and business outcomes. L’Oréal, for instance, has facilitated over 4,800 connections with consumers and professionals since launching their empathy programme in 2021, achieving an impressive recommendation score of 8.7 out of 10. As the programme progresses, they continuously measure how empathy is changing not only the hearts and minds, but also the actions of stakeholders – and ultimately, business results.
To summarise, building an empathy culture isn’t a quick fix. It requires long-term vision, commitment and strategic embedding into everyday business operations. When empathy becomes a habit, it transforms not only how your company understands its consumers but how it engages with them. From regular consumer connect sessions to leadership-led advocacy, empathy must become part of your company’s DNA.
The work doesn’t end once you’ve launched an empathy initiative. To safeguard your investment, it’s crucial to continually drive engagement, measure success and adapt as needed. In doing so, you’ll not only foster a culture of empathy but one of continuous improvement, ensuring your company stays close to its consumers – today and in the future.
Ready to do what matters?
Let’s connect