The empathy map is a tool to help understand customers at a deeper level beyond demographics. It involves charting a customer's environment, behavior, concerns, and aspirations. To use it, identify key customer segments and select one for profiling. Name the customer and provide demographic details. Then make notes in the empathy map diagram about what the customer sees, hears, thinks and feels, says and does, pains, and gains. This helps develop a holistic understanding of the customer from their perspective.

1. The Empathy Map
A [Really] Simple Customer Profiler

2. What’s The Empathy Map?
The Empathy Map is a visual tool
developed by the company XPLANE
that helps chart out a better
understanding of the consumer, that
goes beyond just demographics.
It involves and facilitates a deeper
understanding of environment,
behaviour, concerns, and aspirations.

3. How to use it?
Start by identifying the customer
segments that your business will serve.
Choose three most promising
candidates, and select one for your
profiling exercise.
Give your customer a name, and
demographic characteristics like age,
income, marital status and so forth.
Then, using the diagram in the
following slide, make notes.

4. What does she
THINK AND FEEL
What really counts
Major aspirations
Preoccupations, worries
What does she
HEAR
What friends say
What boss says
What influencers say
What does she
SEE
Environment
Friends
What the market offers
What does she
SAY AND DO
Attitude in public
Appearance
Behaviour towards others
PAIN
Fears
Frustrations
Obstacles
GAIN
Wants/needs
Measures of success

5. What does she see?
Describe what the consumer sees in her
environment – what it looks like, who her friends
are, what offers she is exposed to, what problems
she encounters
What does she hear?
Describe how the environment influences the
consumer. What do her friends say? Her spouse?
Who really influences her? How?
What does she really think and feel?
What’s important to her, what moves her?
What might keep her up at night? Try describing
her dreams and aspirations.

6. What does she say and do?
Imagine what the customer might say or do in
public. What is her attitude? What could she be
telling others?
What is her pain?
What are her frustrations? What obstacles does
she face? Which risks might she fear taking?
What does the customer gain?
What does she truly want to achieve?
How does she measure success?
Think of strategies she might use to achieve her
goal.