No organization has escaped the pandemic’s impact, but for many companies, the experience has allowed them to learn more about their own customers. In many ways, it’s been an instant exercise in building empathy with customers.
For Eventbrite, the global ticketing and event technology platform, the growing recognition of customer needs occurred as the company focused on helping event creators and attendees adapt to rapid change. I recently spoke with Eventbrite’s chief marketing officer, Tamara Mendelsohn, about how deepening customer connections has reshaped her team’s marketing efforts throughout the pandemic and what opportunities might lie ahead when it comes to changing customer attitudes and behavior.
The following is an edited and condensed version of our conversation.
MIT Sloan Management Review: The pandemic meant that many companies and industries went virtual overnight. How did your team pivot when it came to your customers who use the Eventbrite platform to bring people together for live events?
TAMARA MENDELSOHN: The fact that we were experiencing something so similar to what our customers were going through was a very important bond between us and our customers, because it gave us a North Star — something to focus on in a moment that was very chaotic. If you want to make an impression, you have to be human and authentic. For leaders, it can be uncomfortable to talk to people about integrity, because they know they’re not perfect themselves. They don’t want to preach it. There’s the question of “Do I want to impose my values or my morals on people?” I think the answer is, at work, to some extent you do.