An empathy map is a canvas that organises what you know about a persona into six quadrants: what they think and feel, what they see, what they hear, what they say and do, their pains and their gains. It helps the team step out of its own perspective and see the problem through the customer’s eyes. It works best right after interviews or observation, while the material is still fresh.
How to use
- Write the persona (fictional name and role) or import it from the persona generator.
- Fill in each quadrant with 1 to 6 items; each field’s help text includes an example.
- Pains and gains are required: they are what lead to product decisions.
- Read the "Reading the map" section and the warnings about empty quadrants.
- Export the canvas as PNG or PDF, or create a link to review it with the team.
What each field asks for
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Persona | Fictional name and role. You can import it from the persona generator. |
| Situation (optional) | The moment the map portrays. |
| Thinks and feels | Worries, aspirations and what they think but do not say. 1 to 6 items. |
| Sees | The environment, what other people do, what the market offers. |
| Hears | What managers, colleagues, friends and the channels they follow say. |
| Says and does | Attitude in public and observable behaviour. |
| Pains | Fears, obstacles and frustrations. |
| Gains | Wants, needs and what success would look like. |
Example
Leo is a store lead who builds the weekly rota on Fridays. On the map, he thinks "what if we are short-staffed on Saturday again?", sees colleagues arranging swaps on their phones, hears management chasing the rota by Friday and says the spreadsheet works, yet redoes the rota every week. The pains include rework caused by last-minute swaps; the gains include closing the rota in under an hour. The reading points to the first pain to investigate in an interview and suggests comparing what Leo says with what he thinks.
When to use
- Right after a round of interviews, to synthesise what you heard.
- In a workshop with the team, to align the view of the customer.
- Before designing a solution, to choose which pain to tackle first.
- When reviewing a persona, to find gaps in the research.
Frequently asked questions
What is an empathy map?
It is a six-quadrant canvas describing what a persona thinks and feels, sees, hears, says and does, plus their pains and gains. It helps you see the problem from the customer’s perspective.
When should I use an empathy map?
After customer research, when you need to condense what you heard, and before prioritising problems. It also works as an alignment exercise in team workshops.
What is the difference between an empathy map and a persona?
A persona describes who the customer is: role, context, goals and frustrations. An empathy map goes deeper into one specific situation for that persona, separating what they perceive from what they do and feel.
How many items per quadrant?
One to six. Fewer suggests too little research; more often means different people are mixed in the same map. Prefer concrete items that were observed or heard in interviews.
Should I build it as a group or alone?
A group gets more out of it: each person brings what they saw in research and disagreements surface early. Alone, use the map to organise your notes before presenting to the team.
What comes after the map?
Validate the main pains with more interviews, turn one of them into a hypothesis and draw the persona’s journey. The result link lets you review the map with the team without losing your work.