At Custodian we’ve built a business on helping brands interact with their customers – through creative in-store point of sale, Out of Home campaigns, print collateral and countless other media.

But what happens when we’re not targeting the physical customer? Customers that aren’t walking into a store reading about their chance to win with purchase or taking advantage of a new product offering?

Just because we don’t see online customers struggling to find the information they need, or straining their eyes trying to read poorly considered type, doesn’t mean the problems don’t exist. We only become aware of it in drop off rates, dwindling sales and lack of interaction, by then the momentum and connection with the customer is lost.

Would you return to a store that wouldn’t let you in without providing all of your credit card details? Would you filter through paragraphs of unrelated information just to find the one answer you need?

Of course not, because as multidisciplinary designer Frank Chimero says:‍

“People ignore design that ignores people.”‍

We need to treat digital customers with the same level of empathy, logic and connection as physical customers. The only way to truly empathise with digital customers is to listen, see how they interact with your website and look for ways to constantly improve their experience.

Maybe we don’t see our digital customers, but with empathetic design, we can make them feel heard.