The People Business: How Dia & Co are Winning with Empathy in a Data-Driven World

“She wants options, she wants style.”

The first time I heard Nadia Boujarwah say this, I wanted to ask who she was talking about, but I was embarrassed. Maybe they only had one customer - that couldn’t be right! Frankly, when I first heard her talk this way it was a little jarring.

When Nadia talks about Dia & Co’s customers - namely, plus-size women who receive a box of high-fashion, well-fit garments chosen for them personally by a Dia & Co stylist - she always refers to them as “she.” Never our “customers” or our “users” or “women of size.” It’s “She” every. single. time.

She buys an average of two items per box.”

She finds us on Tumblr.”

She is proud to tell people about Dia.”

Embodied Empathy

Yesterday’s world was defined by Mad Men style and “spray and pray” advertising. Today’s world would is dominated by data-driven marketing. Marketers have gone from slightly more substantive salespeople to slightly more personable engineers.

But perhaps the pendulum has swung too far. Most startup CEOs talk about their customers analytically, like they’re describing the sum of behaviors observed in an acquisition funnel. And this presents a challenge because we’re in an age where customers want authenticity and transparency in the brands they buy—think Honest Company or Warby Parker. The narrative that surrounds a company and its products has never been more important.

Data, in general, is a good thing and helps us target specific customers and lower acquisition costs. Today’s companies target and re-target customers based on clear intent rather than blindly buy billboards, but something got lost along the way.

Empathy.

Nadia talks about her customers empathically. You can tell when Nadia is talking about her customers, she sees their faces. She walks the floor of the distribution facility and peeks in the boxes—it’s a very personal and human experience.

Balancing performance marketing with the human side—a deep, visceral understanding of one’s customers—is the key to building successful brands and companies in 2016 and beyond. Perhaps it is a combination of right and left brain marketing. Just like us, it takes both sides to complete the picture.

Your Words Become Your Actions

As an investor, I believe in use cases and use cases start with people. Nadia isn’t building Dia & Co. because of the market trends in plus-sized fashion. The “She” Nadia refers to isn’t some soulless “persona” crafted by a marketing team. Nadia and her co-founder Lydia Gilbert know what media she consumes, what kind of neighborhood she frequents, what her career path looks like, and how she makes purchasing decisions. Nadia and Lydia genuinely care about the woman who wears their clothes.

“Customer centricity is one of the defining features of the culture at Dia,” says Boujarwah. ““Our company's core values were createdwith “her” as a key stakeholder. We founded this business with the sole goal of serving her uniquely and therefore better than anyone else had before. With every interaction we get to know her more and more and relentlessly tweak what we do to serve her best.”

It seems simple, but I think it impacted the way Nadia and Lydia are building the business. The Dia team thinks about what will fit a pear-shaped body better than an apple-shaped figure. They know which fabrics drape best. These may seem like small tweaks, but collectively they create major points of differentiation. They know that for many of their customers, shopping is not a pleasure but can be a highly anxiety-filled and emotional experience.

A great story can come in many forms, but the next time you pitch your business and plan to say “customers” or “users” try saying “he” or “she” instead. You might be surprised by how changing a few small words can lead to massive improvements in the way your business is run.