Understanding the role of emotional empathy within consumers’ everyday lived experience

“Emotions do more than colour our sensory world; they are the root of everything we do, the unquenchable origin of every act” (Lewis, Amini and Lannon, 2001: 36). Empathy, therefore, can be thought of as a form of shared emotional resonance that enhances connectedness through patterns of social relationships. Whilst there is a growing body of knowledge that looks at empathy from either the consumer’s perspective or from a not-for-profit perspective, less insight is available from a more conventional institutional perspective. Therefore, a qualitative study might seek to gain a deeper understanding of the following questions: Can marketers benefit from adopting a more empathetic relationship with consumers? How might this be achieved? What form should this relationship take? How deep should this relationship be? What are the implications for the construction of the consumers self? What are the implications for marketing strategy?