Empathy Mapping

Why Empathising with your users is important

Understanding the perspective of someone else is core to being able to make informed decisions about something we’re saying, doing, or creating that does not concern ourselves in its primary application.

It’s human nature to default to our own experiences and opinions to make these decisions, so even those of us trained to approach problems from all perspectives have to continually work to remove ego and, ironically, our own emotions when doing so.

Empathy mapping is a simple exercise that helps frame use cases from the perspective of your core users or stakeholders.

How to use this template

Step 1

Define the demographic and the use case of the persona you want to map. The facilitator may want to predefine this ahead of the group session.

Tip: You might want to duplicate the template and cover a few different ones with the same group

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Step 2

As a group, brainstorm within the 6 quadrants across the following:

Thinks/Feels: What really counts whilst considering preconceptions, worries, and aspirations

Sees: What is in the environment around them, either from people or from the market

Says/Does: Behaviours towards others and attitudes whilst in public

Hears: What might influence them, whether it be friends or colleagues

Pains: What keeps them up at night? What blocks them and holds them back from reaching their goals

Gains: How do they measure their success, and what desires and needs to drive them forward

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Step 3

The facilitator can then affinity sort any patterns and themes whilst openly discussing them with the group. Individuals may want to discuss specifics about why they added certain notes to encourage debate and shared insights.

Tip: Try to follow up with a further workshop to use what the group has learned to define their problem and solution options