Empathy is often lauded as a critical key to successful customer service. But how does it work? What role does empathy play in helping create customers for life and not mere customers for now? And, what about the flip side: what’s the damage done by lack of empathy? After all, we’ve all heard stories and experienced firsthand the horror of dealing with a “service” representative who is anything, but nice. A Korean study in the healthcare sector found that empathy improves patient satisfaction and compliance. Five hundred and fifty outpatients at a large university hospital participated in the study. The results of this study showed that the physician’s empathic communication skills significantly and substantially influenced patient satisfaction and patient compliance.
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