Empathy maps are powerful visualization tools that enable you to articulate your understanding of specific user types. Widely regarded as an integral component of the design thinking methodology, they facilitate the creation of a shared comprehension of user needs, assisting decision-makers in making critical judgments.
A prime example of the usefulness of empathy maps is how UX professionals utilize them. These experts must create products catering to users they have never met or interacted with. To achieve this, it is crucial to understand their users comprehensively and help their colleagues do the same. This is where empathy maps prove to be an invaluable tool, enabling them to achieve both objectives simultaneously.
Benefits of empathy mapping
Empathy mapping has become an integral part of the design process for many businesses, as it offers valuable insights into understanding users, their wants, and what they expect from your product.
Transform data into a compelling narrative.
Empathy mapping is typically based on firsthand user data that outline their thoughts about using the product. One of its significant advantages is that it compels you to extract more information about the customer from this data, identify their emotions, and develop a narrative that informs your UX & UI design decisions.
Get inside your user's mind.
Empathy maps are also an incredibly useful exercise because they require you to adopt the perspective of your users and determine how they approach and interact with your product. Designers can sometimes lose sight of real-world user experience with the product. Empathy maps help keep you grounded by enabling you to see things from the user's point of view.
Visualizing customer needs
One of the advantages of empathy mapping is that it simplifies visualizing customer needs. This exercise condenses various pieces of information about the customer experience into a single reference point, making it easier to comprehend. Empathy maps are accessible to different stakeholders and team members throughout various stages of the development cycle and can be created easily.
When to use an empathy map
Empathy maps are invaluable for teams seeking a deeper comprehension of user needs, especially when collaborating on user personas and building the "user" in your user story.
With empathy maps, you can create profiles for users or personas that distil your knowledge into one reliable source. They enable you to summarize and analyze qualitative research data like survey responses and interview transcripts. By consolidating this information onto a single page, empathy maps allow you to identify knowledge gaps and devise ways to fill them. These easy-to-use and digestible methods provide an excellent way to illustrate user attitudes and behaviours.
The 4 elements of an empathy map
Empathy maps are divided into four quadrants that serve a specific purpose:
1. Says
The Says quadrant involves recording what users say during interviews, emphasising capturing exact quotes. It is essential to document their responses accurately, such as "I utilize this product daily because it assists me in streamlining my workflow."
2. Thinks
The Thinks quadrant, on the other hand, summarizes what users are thinking throughout their experience. Through qualitative research, it is crucial to determine what occupies the user's thoughts, what concerns them and the challenges they encounter. It is essential to uncover things they might be hesitant or unwilling to share, such as "This feature is really frustrating."
3. Does
The Does quadrant, as the name suggests, records the actions taken by the user. For instance, while observing a user interact with a product, you could document their actions such as "Keeps refreshing the page."
4. Emotions
The Emotions segment captures the user's emotional state. What are their concerns, and what brings them joy? For instance, "The price point is a source of excitement for the user, but they express concern about the product's usability.".
Create your own
FigJam's whiteboard tool offers an ideal platform to design and distribute your empathy map. Begin by choosing the Empathy Map template and populating the four sections mentioned earlier with various points through sticky notes based on the customer's initial statement. Alternatively, leverage our diagramming and collaborative features to construct a customized empathy map.
