Exercises: The customer's perspective: empathy map

Explain what an empathy map is, what purpose it serves in business model design, and how it differs from a statistics-based market research study.

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".

The figure shows a customer empathy map, with three of its four sections filled in. Identify the missing section, marked with "?", and write two statements for that section for a student using a revision app.

Complete an empathy map for a 16-year-old student preparing for university entrance exams using an app: write two mutually consistent statements for each area (sees, hears, thinks and feels, says and does).

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.

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.

An educational technology company launches an after-school tutoring app, defining its segment on its business model canvas as: “families with children in Primary education, annual income exceeding 45,000, pesos and living in urban areas.” Despite being a demographically broad and financially solvent market, subscriptions are almost nonexistent.

1. a) Justify why the sociodemographic description of the “Customer Segments” block proved insufficient and what critical aspects of user behavior it fails to capture on its own.
2. b) Explain how the canvas and the empathy map complement each other, and determine at what point in the validation process the latter should have been used to avoid wasting resources.
3. c) Propose two hypotheses regarding the fears or frustrations (pains) and two regarding the aspirations (gains) of these families that explain why a digital solution might generate pushback despite their income level.

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.