User experience, UX, is about empathy, but it’s also about compassion. It’s about not only understanding and feeling customer pain points, but also about designing solutions to eliminate that pain.
Empathy means experiencing the actual feelings of others and compassion is the understanding of other’s pain, such that we aim to reduce or eliminate that pain. You’re helping them avoid pain, experience joy, and in return, you need to feel their pain, at least at first. But then, do away with it and feel the joy of those product improvements along with them.
Empathy is certainly a buzzword in business these days, but unfortunately while some of the references to corporate empathy may be real, oftentimes the reference ends up being hollow marketing speak. The truth is, however, that a company’s current commitment to empathy for customers or users of their products matters.
When I deliver research findings, the plain dry facts absolutely matter. What are the key findings across participants? If the research is a usability study, how successful were the participants at expected tasks? What design recommendations will be coming out of the research? There are some cases when the facts will sell themselves.
Remember, that as a UX professional you’re likely already starting from a place with some empathy, and you can absolutely hone your empathy skills over time to do great UX work. So go forward and use your superpowers to help others create meaningful products that help people feel good.
