• by Elizabeth H. Elfenbein , Columnist, April 2, 2018

Not all devices are created equal. But the devices that stand out are the ones that not only solve a real customer challenge like compliance, but also are customer-centric. They feel the plight of their consumer and create an experience that makes the customer feel understood and heard. When designed well with humanization in mind, health tech and devices have the power to meaningfully change and upend behavior because they get how to motivate their end user. And that’s because the devices were created with empathy.

Counterintuitive: Technology and empathy 

As we contemplate empathy and its relationship to technology, we have to acknowledge that they seem at odds with one another. Technology is cold, unfeeling, and about data. Empathy, on the other hand, is about the feeling of things. Technology is much like the left side of brain, which is rational, and empathy is the right side of the brain and emotional. That said, imagine if you coupled the two together to create devices that feel the customer. That these devices were only created with the customer experience in mind. That they understood each step of the journey and how they could empower a customer to change and move forward with healthy routines. 

Empathy is understanding unmet needs

Looking at the healthcare world, there’s so many unmet needs that health tech companies are rushing to solve for. Some of the founders of these devices have been through a personal experience that has led them down the path of creating and designing a solution to fit their personal experience. Once you experience a health challenge, whether it is your own or as a caregiver, you recognize where there are opportunities to improve a situation or ways to fill an unmet need. Experiencing these health challenges or, in other words, having empathy, can really provide an impetus and be an amazing catalyst for creative problem solving. 

Empathy as a catalyst for designs

One example is a story about the founder of a health tech company whose father was admitted to the ER, and the physician asked him what medications his father had been taking and when. This experience was the catalyst for his founding a humanized device called “Spencer.^” This device does more than remind a patient to take their medication; it connects the patient with the whole care team and leverages data to deliver humanized care. And this is only the beginning. Imagine a few years from now—it will have cognitive experience design built into each upgrade.

Learning more empathy

With data and learning comes even more empathy. Even though you can’t feel data, you can get a deeper understanding and gain richer insights through the data and customer experience. This is when data can surprise you and offer an overarching lens into something that you’ve only experienced as n=1. The smarter you are, the greater ability to refine your device so that it has universal empathy for its customer. Making health tech human and empathic is a great way for your device to gain adoption with its customer and, in fact, it’s the future of health.