Be the User: The Shortcut to Real Marketing Insight

Want to build a better marketing strategy? Step out of the meeting room and into your customer’s world. “Be the User” is an immersion technique used in the empathise phase of human-centred design. 

It helps marketers and teams build real, lived understanding of the customer experience, not just assumptions.

Instead of researching from a distance, you live the experience yourself. You take the same steps your audience does. You feel the friction. You notice the small details. You begin to understand what makes an experience frustrating, delightful, or forgettable.

If you’re serious about designing marketing that actually connects, there’s no better way to get insight.

What Does It Mean to “Be the User”?

It’s exactly what it sounds like. You become your customer for a day. You walk in their shoes. Not metaphorically, but literally. You try what they try. You feel what they feel. This isn’t just a research technique, it’s a mindset shift.

It pushes you from strategy mode into empathy mode. From “What should we say?” to “What would I want to hear right now if I were in their position?”

Why It Works in Marketing Strategy

Modern marketing is all about relevance, trust, and experience. But how can you design those things if you’ve never felt the journey yourself?

“Be the User” helps you:

  • Uncover hidden blockers and moments of confusion
  • Identify emotional peaks and troughs in the customer journey
  • Spot opportunities for meaningful moments or brand interactions
  • Understand how customers actually make decisions, not how we assume they do

It gives your strategy a heartbeat. Not just data, but perspective.

How to Actually Be the User

You don’t need a big budget or research lab. You just need curiosity, discipline, and a willingness to get uncomfortable.

1. Live in their world for a day

Do what your customer does. Whether that’s booking a service, shopping online, or trying to get help through a clunky support system.

2. Go where they go

Visit the places they’d interact with your brand. This could be your own retail location, a competitor’s website, or even the environments they’re in when using your product.

3. Use what they use

Try the actual product or service they’d experience. Don’t just observe—do.

4. Absorb their media

Follow their online habits. What are they reading, watching, scrolling through? What voices influence them?

5. Try a competitor’s version

Nothing sharpens perspective like seeing how someone else does it. What feels better or worse? Where do they outperform you? Where do they fall short?

6. Debrief and share

Write down your full experience, and don’t filter it. Include what surprised you, what annoyed you, what felt good, what didn’t.

  • What were you thinking at each stage?
  • How did it make you feel?
  • What frustrated you?
  • What moments stuck with you?

Bring those reflections to your project team. They’ll spark richer discussion than any slide deck ever could.

If your goal is to build marketing that actually resonates, be the user. Not just once, but often. It grounds strategy in lived experience – not assumptions, not personas, not guesswork.

Because when you truly understand what it’s like to be on the other side of your brand, your strategy shifts. It becomes less about selling, and more about solving. Less about impressions, more about impact.

About the Author:
Brad Austin is the founder of Klarity Lab and brings over 25 years of experience in IT, digital strategy, and customer experience. He has led cross-functional teams across Australia, Luxembourg, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Before founding Klarity Lab, Brad worked as an innovation consultant with one of Australia’s big four banks. Today, he helps businesses build clear, strategic marketing foundations and design digital experiences – from websites to broader campaigns – that are built for growth and designed around the customer.

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