// description
An empathy map is a four-quadrant canvas that captures what a user or customer Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels. The map is centered on a specific user in a specific context, and discrepancies between quadrants are especially revealing: if a user says they love a product but their behaviour shows they rarely use it, that gap is a design opportunity.
// history
Dave Gray, founder of the consulting firm XPLANE, created the empathy map as a facilitation tool for helping teams develop shared understanding of customers. It gained widespread adoption through Gray's 2010 book Gamestorming and through its inclusion in the Business Model Canvas toolkit. The Stanford d.school and many design agencies subsequently adopted it as a standard workshop tool.
// example
A creator building a Midjourney course creates an empathy map for her target student. Says: "I want to learn Midjourney but I don't know where to start." Thinks: "Am I too old to learn this? Will AI replace creative jobs? Is this a real skill or just a gimmick?" Does: watches YouTube tutorials but doesn't complete them, saves Midjourney images on Pinterest, has a free account but hasn't used it in weeks. Feels: excited but overwhelmed, worried about falling behind. The gap between Says (wants to learn) and Does (not doing it) reveals that the course needs to address the psychological barrier — imposter syndrome and overwhelm — not just the technical knowledge. The first module is redesigned as "Your First Midjourney Win in 20 Minutes."
// katharyne's take
The Says/Does gap is the most valuable part of an empathy map for course creators and digital product sellers. Customers say they want comprehensive content — they want to learn everything. What they do is start module one, maybe module two, then life gets in the way. The Says/Does gap tells you to make your quick wins early and obvious, not hidden in module six. Build the empathy map for your ideal student before you write a single lesson, and let the Feels quadrant guide your course's emotional arc, not just the content structure.
// creative uses
- Build an empathy map for the buyer of your next KDP title using Amazon review language exclusively: Says comes from 5-star review text, Thinks comes from 3-star hedging language, Does comes from how reviewers describe their usage habits, Feels comes from the emotional language in both positive and negative reviews. Four quadrants, zero assumptions, pure data.
- Use the Thinks quadrant specifically to write better email subject lines: buyers' private doubts and hesitations ("is this worth the money?", "will I actually use this?", "am I the right person for this?") are your subject line copy. An email that opens with "Still wondering if this planner is right for you?" converts better than one that opens with a product feature.
- Map the Says/Does gap for your Etsy shop visitors using your analytics: visitors say (via search terms) they want planners for nurses, but they do (via click behaviour) click on minimalist designs that don't mention nursing. That gap tells you your covers need to communicate both the niche and the aesthetic simultaneously.
// quick actions
- Draw a simple four-quadrant grid (Says / Thinks / Does / Feels) for your ideal course student or product buyer. Fill it in from memory using your best customers' actual words. When a quadrant is thin, that's a research gap: go find real people and ask questions that fill it before your next product or launch decision.
- Look at your course completion rates right now. If they're below 30%, your empathy map's Does quadrant is telling you something your curriculum ignores: people don't do what they say they'll do. Design your next module to meet students where they actually are (busy, distracted, overwhelmed) not where you wish they were.
- Use the Feels quadrant as your sales page emotional arc: map the negative feelings your buyer arrives with (overwhelmed, behind, uncertain) at the top of the page, and the positive feelings your product creates (organised, confident, ahead) at the bottom. The page's job is to walk them from one to the other.
// prompt ideas
Build an empathy map for my ideal buyer: [describe your target customer — e.g. a nurse who buys planners on Amazon / a beginner learning KDP self-publishing]. Fill in all four quadrants — Says, Thinks, Does, Feels — using realistic detail. Then identify the most significant Says/Does gap and explain what product or marketing change would close it.
Here are real quotes from my customer reviews and emails: [paste 5–10 verbatim quotes]. Sort this language into an empathy map — Says, Thinks, Does, Feels. Then tell me which quadrant has the most emotionally charged language, and give me 3 ways to reflect that emotional reality back to buyers in my listing copy or email subject lines.
My course completion rate is [X%]. Using the empathy map framework, help me diagnose why students aren't finishing. What are they likely thinking and feeling at the point where they drop off? What does the Says/Does gap look like for an adult learner who enrolled with genuine intent but stopped at [module/week number]? Give me 2 structural changes to the course that would address the actual barrier.