Research
Empathy map template
What a user says, thinks, does and feels, collected from interviews in one picture.
What it is
An empathy map sums up what you know about one type of user in four boxes: what they say, think, do and feel. Says and Does come from what you heard and saw. Thinks and Feels are what you read between the lines, and the gaps between the two halves are often the most useful part.
When to use it
- Right after a round of user interviews
- At the start of a design sprint, so everyone pictures the same user
- When the team argues about what users want and nobody has evidence
How to run it
- 01
Pick one user type
Name who the map is about in the title. Make one map per type of user.
- 02
Fill Says and Does from research
Use real quotes and things you watched people do. Put direct quotes in quotation marks.
- 03
Work out Thinks and Feels
Ask what sits behind the quotes and actions. Write what the person might not say out loud.
- 04
Look for contradictions
Circle the places where what people say and what they do disagree. Those make good questions for the next interview.
Opens a new board from this prompt:
"Empathy map for a small restaurant owner moving from a paper booking book to online reservations"
Related templates
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A one-page profile of a target user: goals, frustrations, habits and a quote.
Strategy
User journey map
Stages across the top, and what customers do, think and feel at each one.
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