An empathetic assessment of an individual or group of people examines a variety of factors to understand that individual or group.
The individual or group could be customers, potential customers, or intended audiences for a message.
There are multiple frameworks for understanding another person, which in essence help you to look at a person’s needs or circumstances through a variety of perspectives. Here are at least 3 frameworks for identifying perspectives to examine.
Framework 1. Categories of physical and emotional needs.
Physical needs: water, food, clothing, shelter, reproduction.
Emotional needs: certainty, variety, connection, significance, growth, contribution.
Framework 2. Categories of health, wealth, and relationships.
Health starts with the essential needs of water, food, and shelter. Another way to think of the essential health needs is in categories of nutrients and protection from the elements. Then there’s exercise and other activities that can improve health and fitness. Finally there are luxury health items, experimental therapies that are rumored to have great results but they’re also very expensive, and anything else that might cost a lot and only has a marginal improvement in outcomes, if any.
Wealth has various levels. Let’s look at three levels called security, comfort, and luxury. Security is consistently being able to acquire or maintain the essential needs of water, food, and shelter. Comfort is being able to acquire or maintain the next level of needs, for example the gym membership or being able to pay for the occasional dinner out. Things that are not essential but they do improve quality of life by reducing stress, saving time, or helping to achieve non-essential goals. Luxury is being able to acquire the best items or the best service in the best places at the most convenient times. Luxury items and services don’t need to exist at all, but people who are wealthy enough to have all the comforts they want look for something else, something more, and so another way to define luxury is “because I can”.
Relationships can mean with a partner, lover, or “significant other”, and also parents, children, siblings, coworkers, and more.
Framework 3. Aspects of the customer’s environment.
Some of these will relate to needs and problems, some will relate to the customer’s attitudes, and some will relate to how you can reach that customer.
Political: What is the political climate in the country and in the target audience? (they could be different). What is the legal system like? (do people have rights? or only the government has rights?) What are the political leaders like? (are they giving hope? or are they ruling with fear? are they working for the people? or are they in it for themselves?)
Military: Is the military effective in defending the country? How technologically advanced is the military? Is the military helping people or is it oppressing people? Has the military been involved in a coup recently?
Economic: What are the major goods being produced in the country? What are the country’s biggest imports? What are the country’s biggest exports? Which companies employ the most people? How many and what percentage of people are employed, self-employed, unemployed? How many and what percentage of people work in big business or small business? How many and what percentage of people are homeless or poor?
Social: What are the groups and subgroups in society? What is the social system? (is it egalitarian, are there castes, tiers, etc.) What are the demographics? (old or young, male or female, single or married, urban or rural) What is the education system like and how many people are literate? How many people completed elementary education? How many people completed college education? How many people have technical training like from a trade school? What are the most prominent perceptions, behavior, values, and beliefs? What are the major religions and how many people are in each one? How many people are non-religious? What are the major languages and how many people speak each one? What are the major ethnicities and cultures and how many people are in each one?
Information: How do people get their information? (AM radio, FM radio, shortwave/SW radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, Internet) Does the government control which Internet apps and destinations are blocked? Do the people trust the government for some or all information?
Infrastructure: Do people have utilities? Transportation – how do people get around? (walk, bike, bus, car, train) What public facilities are available for people? (running water, parks, schools, harbors, airports, bus and train stations, power cables, communication cables, sewer system)
Geography: What are the nearby countries? What is the terrain where people live – do people live near the ocean, in the mountains, in valleys, in plains, near rivers? And what kind of terrain is nearby for most people?
Climate: What are each of the seasons like? How cold does it get in winter and for how long? How hot does it get in summer and for how long? Does it snow? Are there tornadoes or hurricanes? Sand storms? How much rain falls each year and when? How much of the year is sunny and how much is cloudy?
Compass
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