Ansira is an independent, global marketing technology and services company with clients across B2B, B2C, and B2B2C industries that leverage the company’s suite of proprietary technology platforms across website, media, and channel partner marketing. Ansira guides clients operating in distributed ecosystems to connect with their customers, fostering brand loyalty by seamlessly integrating digital and physical experiences from the enterprise level to the hyper-local level. Recommending best-in-class products, Ansira also works with clients to strengthen loyalty efforts. Loyalty, incentives, and rewards all fall within the company’s integrated loyalty practice.
Ansira will lead a session at this year’s Loyalty Expo, held in Orlando, Florida, from June 4 to June 6. Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Amy Ochoa, SVP of Strategy, and Kristin Cardona, Sr. Director of Strategy, at Ansira about their Expo session and the three levels of empathy in customer loyalty.
What role does empathy play in customer loyalty? What are some of the ideas you plan to present during your interactive “Empathy Olympics” session at the 2024 Loyalty Expo?
Ochoa: As marketers, empathy is about the type of relationship that we want to have with our customers. When approaching any program design, we look at the three types of empathy. The first is cognitive empathy, which is where I think a lot of us feel more comfortable. It’s knowing what your customers are thinking or feeling. But then, if you step up to the next level, you get into emotional empathy, which is the desire to feel along with your customers—to walk alongside them.
Finally, the third level would be compassionate empathy, which is making the choice to want to help and support your customers.
When we start to plan, we keep these three aspects in mind to level up our empathy with our customers.
The “Empathy Olympics” is a fun exercise in which we take attendees through those three types of empathy and the factors that we use as marketers when we’re planning. It will be interactive, and there may be prizes.
Who would most benefit from attending Ansira’s session at the Expo?
Cardona: Attendees who are passionate about creating a positive customer experience that fosters loyalty and advocacy, but mostly, the session is for those marketers who want to better connect with customers on a different level from an emotional loyalty perspective.
What are a few key takeaways attendees can expect to learn by attending this session?
Cardona: Attendees will learn a couple of practical strategies to build loyalty with empathy-driven engagement. They’ll also walk away with an understanding of what we call the six key empathy factors, and they can use these to further drive their business. Marketers and loyalty professionals should join us for an exciting and fun session!
At a high level, what is the biggest challenge brands have with either empathy or customer loyalty (in general) with their programs? What’s the biggest opportunity for them?
Ochoa: Part of it is having the right data to enable an empathetic approach and inform your overall strategy. Gen AI is coming into place, but that is only as powerful as the information you’re providing it. One of our approaches is to dig deep into what we need to start listening to or collecting so that we can be more empathetic.
For more information on this year’s Loyalty Expo, including the event agenda and registration options, please visit LoyaltyExpo.com.