Empathy map template
An empathy map for one person you design for: what they say, think, do and feel, set round a picture of them, with their pains and gains underneath.
Opens a live board in one click. No sign-up: share the link and your team joins.
What is an empathy map?
An empathy map collects what a team knows about one user or customer into four kinds of observation. Says and Does are what you have seen and heard; Thinks and Feels are what you infer. Where they disagree — someone who says it is fine and keeps a spreadsheet on the side — is usually where the opportunity is.
What is on the board
6 frames — Says, Thinks, Does, Feels, Pains, Gains — each headed in large type so it reads with the whole board on screen, and a legend with a kind of note for each thing people will write. Drag a note off the legend, or double-click the board.
- Says
- Something they said, in their words.
- Thinks
- Something they believe but may not say.
- Does
- Something they were seen to do.
- Feels
- An emotion, and what caused it.
- Pain
- A frustration or an obstacle.
- Gain
- Something they want, or would count as success.
How to run it
- Pick one personA real customer you have spoken to, or a persona built from several.
- Fill the four quadrantsStart with Says and Does, from research. Thinks and Feels come after.
- Find the tensionsLook for where what they say and what they do do not match.
- Name pains and gainsWrite what frustrates them and what success looks like to them.