What is the Empathy Map and Possible Uses

The empathy map is a visual thinking tool used to understand customer needs. This tool provides us with greater clarity to work on the objectives or challenges of projects focused on having the customer at the center.

Origin of the Empathy Map

Dave Gray, founder of XPLANE, introduced in his book”Game Storming” the first version of what we know today as the Empathy Map. This visual thinking game or ideation was created by Scott Matthews, an XPLANE collaborator.

Illustration 1. Empathy Map that appears in the book Gamestorming by Dave Gray

Years later, Dave had the opportunity to experiment with some tools created by Alex Osterwalder (author of Business Model Generation or Value Proposition Design) to create the so-called culture map. This process helped him to redesign the empathy map and arrive at the version we know today.

Illustration 2 Empathy Map redesigned by Dave Gray xplane.com

Once we know the origin and what it was created for, then I would like to delve into the possible uses that we can give to the empathy map.

To do this, before we dive deeper into the subject, we need to know what empathy is:

According to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, empathy is the feeling of identification with something or someone and the ability to identify with someone and share their feelings.

An example, we can observe in the cinema, when we are watching a film and we feel that we are for or against the main character or antagonist, at that moment, we are empathizing.

Therefore, empathy is the ability to identify and not about feeling the same as the other person or making their feelings and emotions our own, where we would be talking about sympathy (relationship between two bodies or systems by which the action of one induces the same behavior in the other). RAE Sympathy).

Following the same example as before, if in the film the main character cries inconsolately and we find ourselves on our couch, in exactly the same emotional state as the protagonist, what we are doing is sympathizing.

Uses of the Empathy Map

In customer experience, this type of business strategy, we always work with the vision of having the customer in the business center. To understand him, to be able to empathize with him, it is vital that we can empathize with his experiences, understand his needs and be able to adapt to him. Although it is true that by obtaining archetypes we have a more accurate and precise vision, sometimes it is necessary to take off our shoes and put ourselves in those of the client to make a decision. In these cases, the empathy map is our great ally.

In the discipline of user experience, it is vital that we design based on what the customer expects or needs, that is, it is not valid to generate a groundbreaking and innovative design if the customer is unable to recognize the added value, navigate the app or web or use, in short, that interface (whether digital or physical). The empathy map is another tool for deepening customer knowledge, helps us to get into the user's skin and not lose sight of them in the design.

In employee experience, we can use the empathy map as a tool in which we can precisely identify everything the employee experiences with the companya. It is just as important to identify the employee's current situation as it is to design the map of future empathy, the one we want them to experience once the redesign of the experience has been carried out. It will be our tool to help make decisions focused on generating value for the employee.

On a daily basis at work, we can also use the empathy map, because who hasn't happened to have ever encountered a customer that they can't reach in an optimal way? Meetings, emails, whatsapps... are part of our daily lives and more of our client. As a good practice, before starting any project, draw up an empathy map of your client, it will be infinitely easier for you to understand what they need to hear from us as experts, what they think and, most importantly, you will have the answer to how Conquer your objective and then you can reach it more easily.

Personally, yes, indeed, even at this stage, the map of empathy can become very present. Do you have teenage children? , don't you fully understand some aspects of your friend/partner? , would you like to improve your relationship with your boss? The great ally to begin to understand and, above all, empathize with that person is to use a tool such as the empathy map. We don't always have to use these types of tools for work and it wouldn't be the first time that design thinking techniques have been used to organize the layout of tables at a wedding, for example.

In short, the empathy map serves to put your user at the center, whether it's an employee, customer, patient, student, family...

This review of the origin of the empathy map, as well as the examples shown, are some of the lessons I wanted to share with you. I am sure that you have more possible applications of the empathy map for a wide variety of areas. I would love to read you in the comments.