Empathy Mapping

Imagine you are part of a company that is designing a fitness app for seniors. You first find your target population, like Martha, a 70-year-old woman hoping to stay active. To design an app for people like her, your team starts visualizing Martha’s daily routine, the challenges she might face using technology, and her fitness goals.

However, while Martha serves as a specific persona, Empathy Mapping is not solely about individualizing the design process. Instead, it aims to represent a broader pool of users who share similar needs and preferences. Through Empathy Mapping, your team harnesses emotional intelligence to step into not only Martha’s shoes but also the shoes of many users like her. It’s a holistic evaluation of the user's needs to improve the end product, fostering a deeper understanding of user preferences

Empathy Maps are collaborative and visual. To design one, you’ll first want to gather your team and some sort of drawing tools (from sticky notes and pens to a smart screen). Before putting pen to paper, mapping out your thoughts, make sure everyone knows who you are mapping. Who's your ideal user? It’s helpful to name them or create a whole character. This persona should be based on user research and real data as much as possible. It’s also important to know what your main goal is so you can reference it as you create the Empathy Map.

Once all of that is clear, you can start mapping. The original Empathy Map is split into four sections—what they: say, think, do and feel—placing the user in the middle. The updated version includes seven sections.²

Image Source: Empathy Map Worksheet, XPLANE (2021)

GOAL: Write it down so it’s always accessible, what are you looking to achieve through this Empathy Map?

1. Who are we empathizing with? This section intends to make your target persona explicit so everyone understands their whole context.
2. What do they need to do? You should reflect on the type of change that they need or want.
3. What do they see? What is available to them in the market, their environment or their everyday lives?
4. What do they say? This section contains actual quotes from previous user research you have performed.
5. What do they do? It should reflect what users physically do with the product or how they interact with the interface. 
6. What do they hear? This could be from friends, colleagues, news, websites, etc.
7. What do they think & feel? This should go in the center. After Empathy Maps were updated from four to seven sections, ‘thoughts’ and ‘feelings’ were merged into the central section to create a clear distinction between observable and inferred phenomena. This section also includes a table of “pains” and “gains” to understand your persona or user better.

Once you’ve completed the map, analyze it for insights. It’s normal for some sections to overlap or contradict each other as humans are quite complex. For example, going back to users like Martha, they might feel like the fitness app is a great idea (what they say) but feel intimidated by technology (what they think & feel/what they do). Or maybe, users might value the ability to perform physical activity at home (what they say/what they think & feel), yet also desire social interactions with others who share similar fitness goals (what they say/ what they think & feel).

Naturally, once you’ve narrowed down your findings, the next step is to find solutions or new ideas you want to implement. For example, your team should simplify the app’s interface and introduce community features, to better meet the needs of users like Martha.  By discussing your insights your team can refine your development approach and ensure the app is accessible and engaging for your target population.

Empathy Maps allow for a deep understanding of your user, but they also serve as an explanation to the broader team and stakeholders. Allowing everyone to gain insight as to what they should prioritize in terms of preferences and needs. Encourage open-mindedness and discourage judgment so you really build empathy and make user-centered decisions.