We know the difference between empathy and sympathy right? To empathize with your customer means that you have a deep emotional connection to their feelings, situation, or problems. To show sympathy with your customer is more of general setback with them because you are not taking the time to acknowledge their feeligns. Given this case, we all want to empathize with someone, not just show sympathy. So why not apply empathy to your marketing tactics as well as your customer service?

Hyundai employed empathetic marketing in 2009 when they introduced their Assurance Benefit: if you couldn’t afford payments within your first year of  purchase, just drop it off and walk away. From this, their sales greatly increased. What’s also interesting is that they sold  55,133 vehicles through the end of February and not a single owner has taken Hyundai up on its offer to buy back their vehicle. So, at this point, the incentive program has been a home run idea that's sold more cars but effectively cost Hyundai nothing.

Here are some steps you can take to apply empathetic automotive marketing:

• Don’t be biased of other viewpoints
  • Understand what your customers are going through and try to relate.
• Be empathetic in your customer service
  • Maintain eye contact
  • Maintain good body posture, don’t fidget
  • Use empathetic keywords and connecting statements
    • I understand...
    • I would...
    • I can see how you would...
    • I realize...
• Organize informal focus groups
  • Ask your customers how they feel and relate to a specific ad
  • Ask why they made a purchase or why they would

By developing a real understanding of how customers want to buy is much more important than defining how you want your vehicles to be sold. Using empathy in your automotive marketing tactics will tap into your consumer’s neurological need to connect with human emotion and in turn will drive more sales to your dealership. You’ll know when your dealership hits the mark on customer experience and automotive marketing  when you see the sale as the beginning of a lifelong relationship rather than the end of a transaction.

It's your turn! What empathetic automotive marketing and customer service tips do you have?