Just Launched! — New Ways to Understand Customers Through Empathy Sessions

Bringing people together for a meaningful conversation is never simple. RSVPs, time zones, competing priorities, and more — it is a lot to navigate. But staying connected to your customers is vitally important. You need to deeply understand how they think and feel in order to deliver meaningful solutions. This is exactly why we created empathy sessions. And we continue to make this breakthrough functionality even better.

Now you can schedule multi-day empathy sessions and share images directly in the live chat.

If you have not yet used empathy sessions, it might be helpful to think through a scenario. Imagine that you are a product manager at a global technology company. You are working on a new feature that a number of customers requested. Naturally, you want to receive feedback on the designs early — so you can ensure your solution satisfies their needs. But your customers are distributed across multiple time zones, making it nearly impossible to bring people together for a discussion. Does this all sound familiar?

Empathy sessions solve that challenge. You can invite people who voted for an idea in your portal to participate in an online, chat-based conversation with other customers. Keeping the session open for multiple days gives everyone a chance to contribute when it suits them best, while moving the discussion forward over a specific period of time. You can also now insert images — a great way to share designs and other reference material.

Empathy sessions are included in the advanced plan for Aha! Ideas. If you are an existing Aha! Roadmaps customer, email [email protected] to try this advanced functionality in your account free for 14 days.

Let's take a look at what you can do with these enhancements:

Host a multi-day empathy session

Select a start and end date for your empathy session. The time frame that the session will be open is automatically included in the email template inviting customers to participate. Once you start the session, immediately add all the questions and polls that you want people to answer in the chat. That way, participants can respond to each item in a threaded conversation — regardless of when they join.

Gather feedback on designs

Insert an image directly in the chat. Show participants what a new product or feature will look like by including a wireframe or mockup. Participants can share files too. When you need clarity about a specific request, encouraging people to upload an image or document that will give you a deeper understanding of what they want to accomplish and why.

Give your customers more ways to share what they think and feel — so you can use those learnings to develop greater empathy.

Since we first launched Aha! Ideas a few weeks ago, we have talked to hundreds of organizations about the possibilities that empathy sessions provide. It is inspiring to see how so many different types of teams are reimagining how to bring people together. Do you think chat-based sessions with groups of customers would benefit your team?

Sign up for a free trial — grow your empathy

Empathy sessions are included in the advanced plan of Aha! Ideas. Sign up for a free 30-day trial. If you are looking for seamlessly integrated idea and product management, choose Aha! Roadmaps (which includes Ideas Essentials). And if you are an existing Aha! Roadmaps customer, email [email protected] to try empathy sessions and the other new functionality free in your account.