Product Management 101: #17 Empathy Maps

Today I would like to introduce you to a valuable tool in product management called Empathy Maps. Empathy Maps are a simple yet powerful tool that can help product managers to better understand their customers’ needs and pain points.

Empathy Maps are essentially a visual representation of the customers’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The Map is typically divided into four quadrants, which represent the key aspects of a customer’s experience:

1. Thinking: This quadrant captures what the customer thinks about when using a product or service. For example, what problems they are trying to solve, what they want to achieve, and what they are trying to avoid.
2. Feeling: This quadrant captures the customer’s emotional state when using a product or service. For example, what makes them happy or frustrated, what they find satisfying or unsatisfying.
3. Saying: This quadrant captures the customer’s verbal expressions, such as what they say about the product or service, how they describe it, and what feedback they give.
4. Doing: This quadrant captures the customer’s actions, such as how they interact with the product or service, what they do when using it, and what actions they take to achieve their goals.