Understanding Your User’s Perspective

An empathy map is a visual tool that helps teams step into the shoes of their users, highlighting key insights about their behavior and emotional state. Typically divided into four quadrants—Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels—an empathy map prompts teams to focus on the user’s perspective, ensuring that all decisions are grounded in real user experiences.

The four key areas of an empathy map are:

1. Says: What the user verbally expresses during interviews or interactions. These are direct quotes or paraphrases that provide insight into the user’s concerns, preferences, or frustrations.
2. Thinks: What the user is thinking throughout the experience, even if they don’t verbalize it. This requires understanding their mindset, motivations, and concerns.
3. Does: The observable actions the user takes, such as how they navigate a website, interact with a product, or complete tasks.
4. Feels: The emotional state of the user, including their fears, frustrations, desires, and overall emotional experience while engaging with the product or service.

Benefits of Empathy Mapping

1. Deeper User Understanding: Empathy maps help teams gain a holistic understanding of the user, going beyond surface-level interactions to uncover thoughts, emotions, and motivations.
2. Improved User-Centered Design: By keeping the focus on the user’s perspective, empathy maps encourage the development of solutions that truly address user needs and pain points.
3. Enhanced Team Collaboration: Empathy maps are often created collaboratively, fostering cross-functional teamwork and helping all stakeholders align on the user’s needs.
4. Better Problem Solving: By understanding users on a deeper level, teams can create more effective and empathetic solutions that directly address users’ challenges.
5. Supports Persona Development: Empathy maps can complement user personas, providing more nuanced insights into user behavior and emotions, leading to more accurate and complete personas.

Real-World Example of an Empathy Map

A financial services company designing a new mobile banking app might use an empathy map to understand its users. During research, they capture user comments such as "I worry about security" (Says), observe that users frequently double-check their balance (Does), and note that they feel anxious about losing money (Feels). The team uses these insights to design a more intuitive app that clearly communicates security features, reducing user anxiety.

How to Create an Empathy Map

Start by identifying your target user or customer. Gather qualitative data from user interviews, surveys, or observations. Divide the empathy map into four quadrants (Says, Thinks, Does, Feels) and organize the data into each section. Encourage your team to collaboratively fill in the map with insights from the research. Once complete, use the map to identify key opportunities for improving the user experience and guiding design decisions.

Conclusion

An empathy map is an invaluable tool for gaining a deeper, more empathetic understanding of your users. By visualizing what users say, think, do, and feel, businesses can create more meaningful, user-centered experiences that address real needs and challenges.

Need Help Creating an Empathy Map for Your Project?

Artifact can guide you through the process of creating empathy maps, ensuring that you uncover valuable insights to inform your design and strategy decisions. Let’s work together to build a product that truly resonates with your users.