How to use empathy mapping to make products users love

Empathy is a core part of good user experience (UX). But despite this word being thrown around like confetti, it’s tricky to find practical ways to cultivate it.  

To create products users love, developers need to bridge the gap between user needs and tangible features. This is where empathy mapping comes into play.

What is empathy mapping?

Empathy mapping is a design tool that helps developers understand users better. 

More specifically, it’s a straightforward visual that distills knowledge about a user’s behaviors, attitudes, and pain points, helping you see the world from their perspective. The diagram consists of quadrants labeled —

• Said 
• Did 
• Thought 
• Felt

By focusing on what users say, do, think, and feel, empathy maps give us a good understanding of their needs. Which, as all good product developers know, is the trick to creating products that truly resonate. 

What are the benefits of empathy mapping?

Sometimes, developers and stakeholders make decisions based on personal biases rather than genuine user needs. Occasionally, these align, but often, they don’t. Can you afford that risk? Likely not.

While empathy mapping can’t overhaul company culture, it does shift focus back to users, prompting teams to consider their thoughts and feelings. This process helps UX professionals uncover the unique desires and frustrations of specific user groups, aligning design strategies with their needs. Ultimately, it bridges the gap between research data and actionable design.

This approach also brings in stakeholders from various departments — like marketing, sales, and design — fostering a shared understanding of the end user’s perspective. So it doesn’t just align developers with users, but the wider team and company as a whole. 

The benefits of empathy mapping: 

• A deeper understanding of user needs and wants
• Solutions that genuinely address user challenges and goals 
• Insights to guide prototypes and future designs
• Consolidated information in a single visual reference
• Highlighted key insights drawn from research
• A fast and cost-effective process for creating genuinely useful products 
• Data-driven goals that are easy to understand and update
• A shared understanding among team members
• A way for teams to immerse themselves in their users’ world.

What’s the difference between an empathy map and a journey map?

An empathy map zooms in on the user’s feelings and thoughts at a specific moment. It explores what users say, do, think, and feel, giving teams a snapshot of the user’s emotional and mental state. This helps everyone understand the user’s perspective better.

A journey map takes a wider view, showing how users interact with a product or service over time. It highlights different touchpoints and stages, capturing the highs and lows of their experience. 

Empathy map

• Focuses on the user’s current emotional state
• Captures thoughts, feelings, and actions at a specific moment
• Helps teams empathize with the user’s immediate perspective.

Journey map

• Gives an overview of the user’s experience over time
• Shows interactions across various touchpoints and stages
• Highlights pain points and moments of delight for improvement.

Both tools work together to give a well-rounded view of user behavior and needs, driving smarter decision-making.

Why empathy maps are not a replacement for journey maps (and vice versa) 

Empathy maps and journey maps are both helpful tools in user-centered design, but they have different but complementary purposes.

You need both because an empathy map doesn’t show how their experiences change over time. And while journey maps help you spot patterns and trends, they don’t give you deep insights into your users’ emotions. 

By using both tools together, you can gain a complete understanding of the user experience, leading to more effective design.

When should you use an empathy map?

Use them early in the product development process, specifically during the initial customer discovery and research phases. This gives you a solid foundation for the steps that follow. 

It also makes sense to dig into your customers’ thoughts and feelings while you’re finding other useful information about them. By the time you’re done, you should have a fully fleshed out idea of who you’re talking to and how your product answers their needs. 

But don’t limit your empathy map to the early stages. 

• Include empathy maps in workshops and brainstorming sessions to spark ideas and help the team understand the customer. 
• Use them to solidify user-profiles and highlight potential issues or opportunities that may not surface through standard demographic data alone.
• Revisit empathy maps throughout the development cycle to help validate assumptions and adapt designs accordingly. This helps you create the most user-centric product possible.  

How to create an empathy map that delivers

Here’s a step-by-step guide that will take you right into the hearts and minds of your users.

Step 1: Find your focus 

Before diving into the process, gather your team and decide on which product or service you want to focus on, then choose the user personas you want to explore. Each persona will have its unique map.

• Assemble your team and work out which personas you want to explore.
• Choose a current product offering or one in development.

Step 2: Lay the groundwork

• Tell the group the task at hand. Stress the importance of learning to understand how the user feels. 
• Create the unpopulated empathy maps for each persona (focus on 1-3). You can draw this freestyle, use a template, or create one on a digital whiteboard. 

• Help the team get into the right headspace with some examples. Quickly run through each quadrant of your empathy map with a user persona – it can be one you plan to work on, or something completely unrelated or lighthearted, like a movie character or cartoon). 

Let’s use Whiskers, a 6-year-old cat, as your example. 

Whiskers uses a cozy, interactive cat bed. Here’s what Whiskers might “think and feel,” “hear,” “see,” “say and do,” as well as the potential pain points and wins associated with this bed.

Thinks and feels

• Wants to feel safe and warm, curled up somewhere that feels like a hiding spot.
• Worries about sudden noises and other animals encroaching on “her” space.
• Feels curious about what’s inside, especially if there’s a crinkle toy.

Hears

• Hears the sounds of other animals outside or family members in different rooms, which may make her more cautious.
• Owner calls her name and praises her when she uses the bed.
• Occasionally hears the vacuum, making her hide further in.

Sees

• Sees her favorite toys nearby, and sometimes they end up inside her bed.
• Notices sunlight streaming through the window and enjoys basking in it from the bed.
• Sees her owner nearby, which makes her feel more comfortable and protected.

Says and does

• Purrs contentedly when she’s comfortable and stretches her paws.
• Kneads the bed before curling up, which shows she feels at home.
• If it’s especially cozy, she rolls onto her back and relaxes with her paws up.

Pain points

• Feels annoyed if the bed’s too warm or doesn’t have enough airflow.
• Gets anxious about sudden movements or sounds, making her leave the bed.

Wins 

• Enjoys feeling snug and hidden, which helps her relax deeply.
• Likes that it smells familiar, which encourages her to use it regularly.
• Finds the bed a perfect spot for naps, away from too much household traffic.

Step 3: Fill out the ‘see’ quadrant

Begin by examining the external world of your persona. 

What do they see daily? Identify things like competitors, media influences, and social activities they encounter. Detail what they say and do — how do they express themselves in different settings? What are their behaviors and attitudes? This step helps you capture what influences your persona’s actions and decisions from the outside.

• Examine external influences: Identify what the persona encounters daily, like: 
  • Competitors
  • Media channels
  • Social interactions
• Document their expressions:
  • What do they say?
  • How do they behave in various settings?
  • Note their attitudes and interactions.
• Capture influences on decisions: Understand external factors that shape their actions and choices.

Step 3: Fill out the ‘hear’ quadrant 

Next, focus on what your persona hears. Consider the voices of family, friends, coworkers, and influential voices in their community or professional circles. These individuals or entities affect how your persona thinks and acts. Dive deep into the elements that shape their thoughts and behaviors rather than insignificant noise.

• Identify key voices: Recognize the influential voices around your persona:
  • Family and friends
  • Coworkers
  • Community leaders
• Focus on impactful feedback: Differentiate between insights that shape their mindset and background noise.
• Explore community dynamics: Think about how social and professional networks influence their thoughts and behaviors.
  

Step 4: Fill out the ‘think feel’ section

Once you’ve covered the external aspects, it’s time to go inside the mind of your persona. 

Understand their thoughts, thinking about what excites them or makes them anxious. Explore their worries and aspirations, recognizing their internal motivations and emotional landscape. 

What are their pains and gains — those challenges and ambitions that drive or hinder their progress?

• Explore internal landscapes:
  • Identify what excites or stresses them out.
  • Explore their aspirations and fears.
• Assess motivations:
  • Understand internal drivers and emotional responses.
  • Identify their pain points and gains — what challenges or ambitions motivate them?
• Capture emotional context: Capture the emotional landscape to inform empathetic design.

Step 5: Fill out the say and do section

Capture what your persona openly expresses. What do they say to others about their needs, frustrations, or desires? How do they behave in public, and on social media? Write down their spoken words, typical phrases and actions in different contexts. 

• Identify key statements: What do they care about? What topics or issues do they emphasize?
• Observe context-specific words and deeds: How do they talk in professional settings vs. social ones? What phrases or expressions reflect their personality and concerns?
• Capture insights on priorities: What are they most vocal about and what does that reveal about their goals? 

Step 5: Present and share

As you finalize your map, take time to discuss insights with your team, encouraging discussion and questions.

• What does the empathy map show?
• How has this exercise shifted your understanding of your users? 
• Have we made assumptions that need to be interrogated?
• Are there any gaps we need to fill? Does it raise more questions than answers? If so, you might need to run a round two. 

Remember, empathy mapping is about fostering a user-centric mindset, not about creating a quick fix. The value lies in how well these maps guide your team toward more empathetic design solutions, so be honest about areas that would benefit from further discussion or research and refine the map over time. 

Top tip: Consider transforming insights into shared online documents or printed posters for visibility within the organization. 

The limitations and drawbacks of empathy maps

Empathy maps are a powerful tool, but they’re not without their limitations. Being aware of these limitations will help you get the most out of the exercise (while avoiding the pitfalls). 

• They rely on subjective interpretations, which can lead to biased or incomplete understanding if it’s not carefully moderated. 
• They’re typically created based on assumptions or user research data, which means they may overlook individual nuances.
• Empathy maps can also get outdated fast if they’re not revisited regularly, especially in fast-changing environments or industries. 
• There’s also a risk of overgeneralization and overconfidence — categorizing diverse user experiences into a singular persona could mask the unique needs of different groups. 

Top tips for creating and using empathy maps

Now you know the pitfalls, let’s talk about how to be an empathy mapping master.  

1. Start with engaging conversations

Instead of just gathering data, kick off your empathy mapping with conversations with actual users. Host informal chats or casual coffee sessions where you really listen to their stories. 

Look at what they’re saying on social media, too. This helps you capture the genuine emotions, motivations, and experiences behind the “persona,” making your map feel more alive and relatable.

2. Get personal with user personas

Use visuals, videos, and/or quotes from real users to breathe life into these personas, making them feel like real people. 

3. Invite diverse voices

Bring together team members from different backgrounds and departments. This diversity can spark creativity and new ideas and generate broad insight, which can enrich the map and lead to unexpected discoveries.

4. Make it a living, breathing document

Treat your empathy map like a plant that needs regular care. Schedule team workshops to revisit and update it every few months. Share stories of user feedback or recent interactions to keep the map fresh and relevant, making sure it truly reflects your users’ evolving needs. And celebrate wins with the team, sharing stories where empathy-driven insights led to successful changes in your designs, reinforcing the importance of the exercise.

5. Bring your maps to life

Don’t let your empathy maps gather dust! Make them a part of your team’s daily routine. Use creative, colorful boards created on digital platforms like Cacoo to keep these maps looking sharp. Plus, if you use Cacoo, our own diagramming tool, you can make the whole process that little bit more efficient thanks to pre-made templates, live commenting, and easy sharing. The more collaborative and inclusive you can make the exercise, the better your empathy map will be. Ready to take Cacoo for a spin?