Understanding the user is one of the biggest challenges for those who develop digital products and experiences. Fortunately, there are tools that help with this process, such as the empathy map!
The empathy map is a collaborative tool that allows you to deeply know your target audience and put yourself in each persona's shoes to identify their pains and needs, bringing a clearer vision of what your product should offer.
Learn how an empathy map works and how it can be useful for your project.
What is an empathy map?
The empathy map is a canvas that can be made on a blackboard, bond paper, or on a computer. In it, the persona is placed at the center and a series of questions about her, her needs and desires are answered.
The idea is to try to put yourself in the shoes of a specific persona in your target audience and understand them, in order to understand their behavior and think of ideal solutions to their problems.
Having this empathy for the persona is fundamental for professionals in different areas, so the empathy map is a versatile tool for any type of project.
For those who work with UX design and development of digital products, like us at Vibryt, it is essential to do in-depth research to understand which solutions meet the needs of your customers. Without empathy, a product may be innovative, but it will not be truly useful and relevant to the user.
How to create an empathy map: step by step
To create an empathy map, you need to keep in mind who your business persona is. Define characteristics such as gender, age, profession, level of education, location, tastes, etc. You will then have the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and be able to build the map from that profile and six key questions.
1. What do they see?
This first quadrant of the map speaks of the visual stimuli your persona receives. In it, you must answer questions like:
What does this person see on the internet and social media? What type of content does it consume?
What kind of platform do they look for information on? (Newspapers, news sites, tv shows, etc.)
What does this person see happening in your daily life and social circle?
2. What do they hear?
This question seeks to answer not only what your persona hears soundly, in conversations, podcasts or music, but also the sources that this person seeks to hear in order to receive opinions. For example:
What ideas and people influence the persona?
What are your favorite brands?
Which means of communication do you use the most to get information?
3. What do they think and feel?
This step is important to analyze how your customer or user feels about the usability process.
How does the user behave?
What are your concerns?
What feelings might arise in the face of a solution to these concerns?
4. What do they say and do?
What do you think your persona says or does about your brand or the problem it sets out to solve? Answering questions like this can help you:
What does your persona usually talk about?
What are your daily habits?
What do they usually do when they need to solve a certain problem?
5. What are their pains?
When we put ourselves in our client's shoes, we end up creating hypotheses about the possible problems he faces in his daily life. Thus, we can diagnose the pain of these users to improve our business model.
What are your persona's frustrations?
What obstacles do you need to overcome to get what you want?
6. What are their needs?
Based on the pain, also identify what the client's needs are. This way you will be more assertive when developing a useful solution and differentiated!
What does your persona need to solve your problems?
Where do they want to go?
Need help applying this strategy?
At Vibryt, understanding the customer is part of our processes in creating digital products such as systems, applications and portals. We always aim to develop the most suitable solution for the user's pain and needs, whatever the project.
Contact our experts to find out how we can help you design your product: www.vibryt.com
