The empathy map

The classic empathy map has four quadrants: what they SEE, what they HEAR, what they THINK and FEEL, and what they SAY and DO. Categorise these observations of a revision app user: "my friends use a different app", "too many ads pop up on the screen", "feels embarrassed to ask questions in class", and "says they will get serious this month, but statistics show only two study sessions".

Classify these observations of a shared transport app user into the corresponding empathy map area: "there is no shelter at the stop and it is raining", "his friends say that car sharing is cool", "he thinks that arriving late looks really bad" and "every morning he requests the car ten minutes before leaving".

A team designs an app for older people without talking to any of them and based on their own tastes. Explain what risk that design runs and what two simple techniques (interviews, observation) would have fed a real empathy map.

Explain what the pains and the gains capture at the base of the empathy map, with an example of each for a customer of an online academy.

At the bottom of the empathy map are pains (frustrations, fears, obstacles) and gains (wants, expected benefits). For this gym customer: "hates the 7 p.m. crowds", "wants to get in shape before summer", "feels unmotivated to go alone", and "dreams of running a fun run", separate the pains and gains and explain how you would use this information.

About a regular food delivery customer we know: "he hates waiting without knowing where his order is", "he loves not cooking during the week", "paying delivery fees annoys him", "he likes trying new restaurants", "he fears the food will arrive cold" and "he boasts about ordering healthy food". Separate pains and gains, and propose one specific improvement to the service for the pain you consider most important.

A potential customer states in a survey that they love the idea of a healthy cooking app, but never actually downloads it. Explain what this contradiction between what they say and what they do reveals, and what two checks you would carry out before investing further in the idea.

A ready-meal company believes its customers want a wider variety of dishes, yet sales are falling. An empathy map reveals that customers feel guilty about not cooking and perceive ready meals as unhealthy. Explain how the understanding of the problem changes thanks to the empathy map, and what two changes to the value proposition it suggests.

In surveys, 80% of the users of a personal finance app say they want to save more, but only 5% use the automatic saving feature. Explain what this contradiction between saying and doing reveals, and design two techniques (interviews about past behaviour, observation of real use) to discover what holds users back.

From the empathy map of a home repairs service customer we know his pains ("he does not trust that the technician is who they say they are", "fear of surprise prices") and his gains ("he wants to fix the breakdown without losing the morning", "he wishes to pay a fair price"). Write a one-sentence value proposition that responds to those pains and explain which two elements of the service would make it credible (verified technicians, a fixed price agreed in advance).

Construct the empathy map of a teacher overwhelmed by marking, as a potential customer of an automated marking app: complete the four areas with two statements each and, based on them, write a one-sentence value proposition addressing their main frustration.

The founding team of a low-cost gym chain meets in their office and, in a two-hour session, fills out the empathy map for their potential customers based on what they “believe people feel”: they assume the user hates waking up early, fears long-term contracts, and only looks for price. Based on these assumptions, they launch a no-commitment plan with exclusive afternoon access, but customer acquisition turns out to be a failure.

1. a) Refute the statement “the empathy map consists of imagining what the customer feels” and predict what consequences filling out this tool exclusively “from the office” has on the business model.
2. b) Explain the difference between a hypothesis about the customer and validated data.
3. c) Design a research plan using two empirical techniques (for example, direct observation and qualitative interviews based on past events) to rebuild this map with real data. Detail what you would observe in the field and what specific question you would ask in the interview to prevent the user from giving you answers just to please you.