COVID-19: 5 new human truths trending now
April 13, 2020
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The COVID-19 crisis has forever changed our experience of being a customer, an employee, a citizen, a human being.
Even when things go “back to normal,” it will be a new kind of normal. We can expect to see behavior change at scale for some time.
In this COVID-19 thought leadership series, Managing the human and business impact of coronavirus, we address 5 new human truths that experiences need to address, as businesses learn to respond to rapidly changing human attitudes and behaviors.
The evolving human experience
Organizations will need to design, communicate and build experiences people need and want based on evolving human truths.
The first step is to dig deep to understand the likely implications of COVID-19 on human experience and start to respond—today.
Five major human elements of people’s behavior that are likely to shape a new human experience include:
- The cost of confidence. The conditions surrounding the COVID-19 crisis have made people crave the familiar and want to avoid risk. The erosion of confidence will make trust way more important than ever before. Brands will need to focus on confidence-building through every channel.
- The virtual century. The enforced shift to virtual working, consuming and socializing will fuel a massive and further shift to virtual. Anything that can be done virtually, will be—learning, working, transacting and consuming. This will impact on everyone.
- Every business is a health business. Concerns about health will dominate people’s priorities, which means health experiences will be in demand—and health should be considered in every experience.
- Cocooning. Everyone being told to self-isolate means a return en masse to home as the home as the epicenter of life and experience. As people stay more local, spending on homes and things made at home will likely increase.
- The reinvention of authority. Dependence on experts and strong government recommendation—plus executive powers to start resolving the pandemic backed by citizen compliance—lends real weight to central authority. If governments get their handling of the crisis broadly right, expect top-down control to be back in fashion; if not, the reverse.
Listening and learning for success
The formula for business success, now and into the future, during this critical time?
Listen, pivot, learn and reassess.
- Become a good listener. The ability to listen and respond to customers’ needs and how they feel will be business critical.
- Pivot experiences. Behavior changes will continue, andevery experience should take the new customer reality into account.
- Learn from customers. People are innovating for themselves. That innovation can be a source of creativity for businesses as well.
- Reassess brand and business. Organizations need to ensure their brand is ready for the new normal of the post-COVID-19 crisis world.
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