When people think about product marketing leadership, they often picture go-to-market strategies, messaging frameworks, or competitive positioning. But there’s another, less obvious trait that can set great PMM leaders apart: empathy.
Jen Jones, CMO at commercetools, put it best when she said:
“I always say the CMO role is a lot less marketing and a lot more time with HR, finance, and legal, and the board than doing actual marketing.”
While she’s speaking from a CMO’s perspective, the same holds true for product marketing leaders.
Success in PMM doesn’t come from operating in a silo – it comes from building relationships across departments, understanding their challenges, and tailoring strategies that align with the bigger organizational picture. And that’s where empathy gives leaders a competitive edge.
Walking in other teams’ shoes
Even the most passionate product marketers can’t thrive without understanding the reality their colleagues face. Jones recalls her early days in sales:
“I first started out thinking I would go into sales, and I cried every day. It was terrible. I’m a terrible salesperson, so it’s probably why I have so much empathy and respect for the salespeople I work with.”
For PMM leaders, experiences like this are gold. They create a deeper appreciation for the pressures on sales teams – the quotas, the deals slipping through the cracks, the endless client conversations. With that perspective, PMMs are better equipped to:
- Set realistic expectations,
- Create sales tools that actually get used, and
- Earn trust by showing they “get it.”
This kind of credibility can’t be faked, and it directly impacts how successfully PMMs can influence outcomes across the business.
Empathy in action: Supporting sales without overloading them
PMMs often pride themselves on supporting sales with insights, enablement, and competitive updates. But here’s the catch: too much of a good thing can backfire.
As Jones explains:
“As product marketers, we give so much to the sales team. And just having a little bit of empathy for how much information we’re asking them to consume… They have a lot on their plate. And then here comes product marketing with, ‘hey. Here’s a new competitive update I want you to remember.’”
When PMM leaders recognize the sheer cognitive load on sales reps, they can adjust their approach. Instead of flooding inboxes with updates, empathetic leaders prioritize clarity, timing, and relevance – ensuring their insights stick and drive action rather than overwhelm.
That restraint and thoughtfulness don’t just make life easier for sales; they also improves performance in the field and strengthen the perception of PMM as a strategic partner rather than an added burden.
Clarity, consistency, and retention
Empathy doesn’t stop with what you share; it extends to how you share it. Jones highlights that:
“It comes from a standpoint of having some empathy that it’s easier for people to retain and learn new information when it’s a very consistent, clear format.”
This matters far beyond sales enablement. Whether it’s product launches, competitive intel, or strategic updates, PMMs who prioritize clarity and consistency empower the entire organization to act with confidence. In fast-moving markets, that’s not just an internal efficiency boost – it’s a genuine competitive differentiator.
From theory to practice: building empathy through customer support days
So how can product marketers go beyond good intentions and actively cultivate empathy across their organizations?
Daniella Latham, Product Marketer at Kahoot!, has firsthand experience running a company-wide customer support day designed to do just that. Inspired by a similar initiative led by Joanna Lord (former CMO of ClassPass), Latham explains:
“The entire company supported CX and jumped in to work on help tickets, and get them to inbox zero… Engineers, product managers, and marketing all came out of that day obsessed with solving problems for the customer.”
At Kahoot!, Daniella and her team adapted the idea to fit a larger, globally distributed workforce. Here’s how they made it work:
1. Make it inclusive and company-wide
Instead of limiting the exercise to customer-facing teams, participation was set as opt-out, not opt-in – which resulted in a 70% company-wide participation rate. Employees were grouped into small teams, given a set of trending support issues, and asked to both draft responses and brainstorm product improvements.
2. Design for distributed teams
Running an activity like this across time zones can be tricky. To keep it fair and engaging, employees worked in one-hour shifts, almost like a relay race, and incentives were added – prizes for the best responses and the most creative improvement ideas.
3. Focus on collaboration and empathy
The real magic came not just from solving support issues, but from cross-functional collaboration. Latham notes that employees valued working with colleagues from different teams, gaining empathy for the support function, and developing a deeper understanding of the product itself.
4. Keep the focus on product improvements
Interestingly, Latham observed that teams struggled to both draft responses and brainstorm improvements in the limited time. Her key takeaway: next time, focus more on product learnings and innovation, and less on perfectly crafted responses.
“By the end of the day, we had 4–5 excellent suggestions for improvement,” she explains, underscoring that the real value lies in turning customer pain points into tangible product insights.
Why empathy wins
At its core, empathy allows PMM leaders to:
- Anticipate and reduce friction across teams,
- Deliver insights that actually get absorbed, and
- Build alliances that drive organizational momentum.
Practical exercises like company-wide support days make empathy more than a leadership trait – they turn it into a company muscle. And when empathy becomes embedded in how teams work together and how they think about customers, it stops being a “soft skill” and becomes what it truly is: a competitive advantage.