Research
Empathy Mapping
A practical UX research synthesis method for visualising user perspective across thoughts, emotions, statements, and actions.
How to run empathy mapping to turn qualitative insights into a shared understanding of user mindset, pain points, and opportunities.
What it is
Empathy mapping is a UX and serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service method used to visualise what users say, think, feel, and do in a given glossaryContextContext is the set of surrounding conditions that shape how someone behaves and decides, including their goal, their environment, their time pressure, and what happened immediately before. The same action can mean different things in different contexts.Open glossary term.
It involves creating a collaborative visual representation that organises glossaryInsightAn insight is a meaningful understanding that explains why something is happening and what it means.Open glossary term from interviews, glossaryObservationObservation is a research method where user behaviour is watched and analysed without interference.Open glossary term, or other serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service into key quadrants: Say, Think, Feel, and Do.
The focus is on capturing user perspective and emotions to inform design decisions.
Key takeaway
The goal is to develop a shared understanding of users, highlight pain points, and identify opportunities to improve the experience.
When to use it
Use this method when you need to humanise user glossaryDataData is raw, uninterpreted information collected and stored so it can be analysed, processed, or used to inform decisions. On its own it carries no meaning; context and interpretation are what make it useful.Open glossary term.
It is most useful when:
It is less useful when:
Empathy mapping is often used alongside personas, journey mapping, and thematic analysis.
How to run it
Set up properly
Be clear which user group the map is for, which serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service it draws on, and what it is meant to inform. A map covering everybody describes nobody.
Prepare the glossaryInsightAn insight is a meaningful understanding that explains why something is happening and what it means.Open glossary term in advance. An empathy map built from memory records the team's assumptions in a format that makes them look like findings.
Run the method
Empathy mapping is collaborative and visual. It works when it is a way of arranging evidence, and misleads when it becomes a way of imagining a user.
- Divide the board into Says, Thinks, Feels and Does, and keep the distinction honest: what someone says is evidence, what they think is guideInferenceWhat inference is, how it differs from training, and what product and design teams need to understand about its implications for speed, cost, and reliability.Open guide.
- Place real serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service glossaryInsightAn insight is a meaningful understanding that explains why something is happening and what it means.Open glossary term into the quadrants, attributing each to its source so the map can be challenged later.
- Discuss glossaryPatternA pattern is a reusable solution to a design problem that recurs across products and contexts. It captures an approach already shown to work, so a team solves the problem once rather than every time it appears.Open glossary term and contradictions, particularly where Says and Does disagree. That gap is usually the most useful thing on the board.
- Highlight glossaryPain PointA specific problem or frustration users experience when trying to complete a task.Open glossary term, motivations and opportunities as you go, rather than leaving interpretation to the end.
- Mark anything placed from assumption rather than evidence. Those are your serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service questions for the next round.
Focus on understanding the person, not cataloguing their glossaryBehaviourBehaviour refers to how users interact with a system, including actions, patterns, and responses.Open glossary term. The map is a means of building shared understanding, not an artefact to file.
Capture and make sense of it
The value comes from synthesising perspective. After mapping, document:
- Key glossaryInsightAn insight is a meaningful understanding that explains why something is happening and what it means.Open glossary term and themes, separated from the assumptions
- Gaps that need validating before they inform a decision
- How the findings change specific design or content choices
- Where Says and Does diverged, and what that implies
Share the map with the team for glossaryAlignmentAlignment is a shared understanding of goals and priorities across teams and stakeholders, strong enough that people act consistently without checking first. It is not the same thing as everyone agreeing.Open glossary term. Its main value is that several people now hold the same picture, which is harder to achieve than it sounds.
Key takeaway
Use this to design experiences that resonate with users.
What to look for
Focus on:
Where it goes wrong
Most issues come from:
If the map is superficial, it provides little guidance.
What you get from it
Done properly, this method gives you:
Key takeaway
It helps you create empathetic, user-centred experiences.
Get in touch
If this sounds like something you need, we can help you create empathy maps that uncover what users truly think, feel, and do, guiding design decisions that actually resonate.
No guesswork. No assumptions. Just design with empathy.
FAQ
Common questions
A few practical answers to the questions that usually come up around this method.
What is empathy mapping in UX?
It is a method for visualising what users say, think, feel, and do to guide design decisions.
When should you use empathy mapping?
After qualitative research, during ideation, or when defining user needs.
What data do you need?
Interviews, observations, feedback, or notes capturing user perspectives.
What does an empathy map give a team?
It helps designers understand the user holistically and identify opportunities for improvement.
Does empathy mapping improve UX?
Yes. It ensures products and content meet real user needs and emotions.
Quick take
If you don’t understand what users feel, think, or do, you’re designing in the dark. Map empathy to see through their eyes.
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