What is Empathy Mapping?

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What is Empathy Mapping?

Empathy Mapping is a tool used to visualize and document a user's emotions, thoughts, pain points, and needs during their interactions with a product or service.

It brings out the human side of user data, making it easier for teams to empathize with the user and design products that address their real concerns and challenges.

Empathy Maps

Empathy maps are typically divided into sections that represent the various aspects of the user's experience. 

Each section captures a different dimension of the user’s experience:

Says

What does the user say out loud? These are direct quotes or paraphrased statements that express the user’s thoughts or needs.

Thinks

What is the user thinking during their experience? This may include unspoken thoughts or concerns that may not be voiced aloud but are inferred.

Does

What actions does the user take? This section captures behaviors or tasks the user performs.

Feels

What emotions does the user experience? This can include their frustrations, joys, or anxieties.

Pain Points

What obstacles or frustrations is the user facing?

Gains/Needs

What are the user's needs, goals, and desires? What do they hope to achieve or get out of the interaction with the product?

Why Use Empathy Mapping?

Deepen understanding

It provides insight into the emotional and cognitive aspects of user experience.

Identify unmet needs

By understanding the user's frustrations and goals, designers can identify opportunities to improve or innovate features.

Align stakeholders

It brings together cross-functional teams (designers, developers, product managers) around a shared understanding of the user’s perspective.

Create user-centered designs

Helps ensure that designs are tailored to the user’s true needs, leading to more effective solutions.

The Process of Empathy Mapping: a Step-by-Step Guide

Choose a Persona or User Segment

Before you begin, you need to define which user or persona the empathy map will represent. It’s typically helpful to use personas developed during user research, or focus on a specific segment of users (e.g., frequent users, new users, or users with specific needs).

Persona Creation

Personas are fictional representations of users based on research and data. A persona includes demographic details, goals, and pain points. You can map empathy around one or several personas.

Gather Insights

To build an empathy map, you need user research. This can be gathered through methods such as user interviews, surveys, usability testing, or user observations. Collect both qualitative and quantitative data.

Create the Empathy Map Template

Start by drawing a large grid with sections for each of the main categories:

Says

Record exact quotes from the user, such as “I hate waiting for the app to load” or “It’s so frustrating when it freezes.”

Thinks

These are implied thoughts or beliefs based on the user’s words and behavior. For example, “I don’t trust this app to store my financial data” or “I wish there were an easier way to find my saved items.”

Does

Document the user’s actions or behavior. For instance, “The user clicks through multiple pages to find the right feature” or “They spend a lot of time on the help page looking for troubleshooting steps.”

Feels

Note the user’s emotions. For example, “The user feels anxious when the page is slow to load” or “They feel satisfied when they quickly find the option they need.”

Pain Points

Capture the problems or frustrations the user faces, such as slow response times, confusing interfaces, or lack of support.

Gains/Needs

These represent what the user hopes to achieve, such as “The user needs a faster way to complete tasks” or “The user needs an intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface.”

Facilitate the Mapping Exercise

Gather stakeholders (e.g., designers, developers, product managers) for a collaborative workshop to discuss and fill in the empathy map based on the user data. Ensure that the map is centered on the user’s experience, emotions, and motivations, not the product’s features.

Brainstorm

Use sticky notes, whiteboards, or digital tools (like Miro or MURAL) to brainstorm and place ideas in the appropriate sections.

Encourage empathy

Encourage team members to think deeply about how the user might be feeling or what they might be experiencing at each stage.

Synthesize and Analyze

After the map is complete, take a step back and look for patterns or insights that emerge from the data. This can guide your design decisions, help refine your product features, and identify key areas for improvement.

Look for common themes across different user groups or personas.

Identify any pain points or unmet needs that should be prioritized in the design process.

Example of an Empathy Map

Says

“I need my food to be delivered in under 30 minutes.” “I hate it when I can’t track my order.”

Thinks

“I hope the food is warm when it arrives.” “I don’t want to waste time searching for lunch options every day.”

Does

Uses the app to select her lunch quickly during her work break. Often skips reading detailed restaurant reviews.

Feels

Frustrated when food delivery takes too long. Relieved when the app is easy to use and the food arrives quickly.

Pain Points

Delivery time is unpredictable. The app interface can be confusing when selecting delivery time slots.

Gains/Needs

Needs faster delivery options. Wants a simple, easy-to-use app that can save her time.

Benefits of Empathy Mapping

User-Centered Focus

Empathy maps help design teams focus on real user needs, emotions, and behaviors, ensuring that products are built around the user’s perspective.

Improved Communication

Empathy maps act as a shared tool for cross-functional teams, improving communication and alignment.

Insightful Data

By synthesizing qualitative data, empathy mapping uncovers emotional and cognitive insights that may not be captured through traditional usability tests.

Prioritization

Helps identify key user pain points and needs that can guide feature prioritization during the design process.