The final working page of the Managing Your Opportunities workbook is an empathy map, introduced with a definition from the psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut, who described empathy as the capacity to think and feel oneself into the inner life of another person. It sits in the solidifying stage, right after a page asking “who am I?” from the customer’s perspective.
Empathy maps are widely used in design, product development and sales. They are simple to draw and surprisingly easy to misuse. This article explains what an empathy map is, how to build one from real evidence, how it helps in both selling and product design, and how to avoid turning it into a page of assumptions.
What an empathy map is
An empathy map is a visual tool for capturing what you know about a particular customer, or a type of customer, organised around their experience. The most widely used version, popularised by Dave Gray of the consultancy XPLANE, divides a page into four quadrants around a central figure:
- Says: what the customer says out loud, ideally in their own words.
- Thinks: what they may be thinking but not saying: worries, priorities, hopes.
- Does: their actions and behaviour: what they actually do.
- Feels: their emotional state: frustrations, anxieties, satisfactions.
Many versions add two further areas below:
- Pains: what frustrates, blocks or worries them.
- Gains: what they want to achieve, and what success looks like to them.
Some extended versions also include what the customer sees and hears in their environment.
Why it is useful
People naturally view situations from their own perspective. In business, that means seeing customers through the lens of what we sell: their needs as gaps our product could fill. The empathy map forces a different view, centred on the customer’s whole experience rather than our offer.
It helps in several ways:
- It reveals gaps in understanding. If you cannot fill a quadrant with evidence, you do not know enough about the customer yet.
- It surfaces contradictions. What customers say and what they do often differ. Those differences are revealing.
- It brings emotion into view. Feelings strongly influence decisions, as discussed earlier in this series, yet they are often left out of business analysis.
- It aligns teams. A shared map gives sales, delivery and product teams a common picture of the customer.
The four quadrants in practice
Says
Record direct quotations from conversations, emails, reviews and feedback. Use their words, not your interpretation. Examples:
- “We just need it to work reliably.”
- “Our last supplier kept missing deadlines.”
- “I don’t have time to learn another system.”
Thinks
Capture what they may be thinking but not saying. This requires inference, so mark it clearly as such and base it on evidence: hesitations, questions they asked, context you know. Examples:
- “If this fails, my manager will blame me.”
- “Is this going to be worth the disruption?”
- “I’m not sure this supplier really understands our business.”
Does
Describe observable behaviour. What do they actually do, day to day and in the buying process? Examples:
- “Keeps a spreadsheet to work around the current system.”
- “Requests three quotes for every purchase.”
- “Checks references before signing.”
Feels
Describe emotional state, again based on evidence where possible. Examples:
- frustrated by repeated breakdowns
- anxious about an upcoming audit
- proud of what the team has built and protective of it
Pains and gains
Summarise the main obstacles and the desired outcomes. Examples:
- Pains: unplanned downtime, lack of visibility, past bad experiences with suppliers.
- Gains: reliable production, less firefighting, credit for solving a long-standing problem.
Building an empathy map from evidence
The most common failure with empathy maps is filling them with assumptions. A map built from imagination tells you what you already believed. A map built from evidence tells you something new.
Sources of evidence include:
- conversation notes, especially direct quotations
- site visits and observation of how customers actually work
- emails and messages from customers
- support requests and complaints
- reviews and feedback
- lost-deal and won-deal interviews
- colleagues who work with the customer, especially front-line staff
A simple discipline helps: mark each entry with its source, or at least distinguish observed items (said, did) from inferred items (thinks, feels). Inferences are valuable, but they should be treated as hypotheses to test in the next conversation.
A step-by-step process
- Choose the subject. A specific customer (for an important account) or a type of customer (for a market segment). Be specific; “all customers” produces a vague map.
- Gather evidence from the sources above.
- Fill in Says and Does first, because they are the most observable.
- Then Thinks and Feels, marking inferences clearly.
- Summarise Pains and Gains.
- Look for contradictions and surprises, such as places where what they say differs from what they do.
- Decide what it means: what should we do differently in how we sell, deliver or design?
- Identify gaps and plan how to fill them in future conversations.
The process works well as a short team exercise, with a large sheet of paper or a whiteboard and sticky notes.
An example empathy map
Here is an illustrative map for the operations manager of a mid-sized manufacturer considering maintenance software. It is not based on a real person.
| Quadrant | Entries |
|---|---|
| Says | “Breakdowns are killing us.” “We tried software before and nobody used it.” “I need something the technicians will actually use.” |
| Thinks (inferred) | “If we buy another system that fails, I’ll lose credibility.” “The owner wants results before the big contract starts.” |
| Does | Keeps a personal spreadsheet of repairs. Works late during breakdowns. Asks detailed questions about training and support. |
| Feels (inferred) | Frustrated, under pressure, wary of being let down again. |
| Pains | Unplanned downtime, a past failed implementation, technicians resistant to new tools. |
| Gains | Fewer breakdowns, credibility with the owner, less time firefighting. |
Reading the map, a salesperson would notice that the main risk in this sale is not price or features but fear of another failed implementation. The proposal should therefore emphasise adoption: simple tools, technician involvement, training and a phased start. A product designer would notice that technician usability matters more than management reporting.
Mapping several people in one customer
In business-to-business relationships, the customer is an organisation made up of people who experience the same purchase very differently. Mapping each key person separately often reveals why a deal is stuck or a relationship is uneven.
Consider the maintenance software example above. The operations manager fears another failed implementation. The general manager, mapped separately, might be most concerned about cost and a clear return. A senior technician might worry that the system will be used to monitor his team’s performance. A finance officer might simply want a predictable payment schedule.
Each person needs something different from the supplier:
| Person | Main concern | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| Operations manager | Another failed implementation | A phased start, adoption support, references |
| General manager | Return on investment | A clear, conservative business case |
| Senior technician | Being monitored, extra admin | Involvement in design, simple tools, clear purpose |
| Finance officer | Unpredictable costs | Transparent pricing, fixed payment schedule |
A proposal that speaks to only one of these people may please its champion while stalling elsewhere in the organisation.
Keeping the map current
An empathy map is a snapshot. Customers’ situations, priorities and feelings change: a new manager arrives, a crisis passes, a competitor makes an approach. Maps for important customers are worth revisiting regularly, for example before account reviews, and updating with what you have learned since the last version.
Comparing old and new versions can itself be revealing. A customer whose “feels” quadrant has shifted from “relieved” to “frustrated” over six months is a relationship at risk, even if orders have not yet changed.
Empathy maps and customer journeys
Empathy maps pair naturally with customer journey maps, which trace the steps a customer goes through: discovering a need, searching for options, evaluating, buying, using and renewing. An empathy map for each major step shows how the customer’s thoughts and feelings change along the way.
For example, a customer may feel optimistic during evaluation, anxious immediately after signing, frustrated during setup and satisfied once the product is working. Knowing this lets you provide the right support at each point: reassurance after signing, extra help during setup and a check-in once results appear.
Empathy maps in sales
In sales, empathy maps help in several ways:
- Preparing for meetings. Reviewing a customer’s map before a meeting reminds you what matters to them and what might worry them.
- Shaping proposals. Proposals can address pains and gains directly, and speak to unspoken concerns.
- Handling objections. Understanding the “thinks” and “feels” quadrants often explains objections that seem puzzling on the surface.
- Account planning. For important customers, maps for each key person (the decision-maker, the user, the finance approver) reveal how differently each sees the same purchase.
Empathy maps in product development
In product design, empathy maps help teams design for real people rather than imagined ones. They highlight the context in which a product will be used, the emotions surrounding it and the gaps between stated preferences and actual behaviour.
For GoCore, which explores products, technology and systems, this is a natural tool. Before building anything, mapping the people who would use it (what they say, think, do and feel) helps test whether the problem is real and whether the proposed solution fits how they actually live and work. It connects directly to the ideas in the article “What makes a useful product worth building?” on this site.
Running an empathy mapping session
Empathy maps work best as a shared exercise. A simple format for a small team:
- Before the session, ask each participant to bring notes, quotes and observations about the chosen customer.
- Draw the quadrants on a whiteboard or large sheet.
- Spend ten minutes in silence writing individual observations on sticky notes and placing them in the right quadrant. Silent writing prevents the loudest voice from shaping the map.
- Read the map together, grouping similar notes and discussing surprises.
- Mark inferences, and agree which ones need testing.
- Agree two or three actions, such as a change to a proposal, a question for the next meeting or a product idea to test.
Forty-five minutes is usually enough. The conversation is often as valuable as the finished map, because it reveals how differently team members see the same customer.
Common mistakes
Filling it in from imagination. The map then reflects your assumptions, not the customer.
Making it too general. A map for “all customers” says little. Choose a specific person or segment.
Ignoring contradictions. The gaps between what customers say and do are often the most valuable insights.
Doing it once and filing it. Customers change. Revisit maps as you learn more.
Treating inferences as facts. “Thinks” and “feels” entries are hypotheses until confirmed.
Not acting on it. A map that does not change how you sell, deliver or design is just decoration.
Empathy and ethics
Understanding someone’s inner life is powerful, and that power carries responsibility. An empathy map should help you serve customers better (address their real concerns, design products that genuinely help, communicate in ways that respect them), not identify emotional pressure points to exploit.
Kohut’s definition, quoted in the workbook, describes empathy as thinking and feeling oneself into another person’s life. The purpose, in business as elsewhere, is understanding. Used that way, empathy builds the trust that sustains long relationships.
Questions to reflect on
- For my most important customer, could I fill in all four quadrants with evidence?
- Where do I suspect a gap between what customers say and what they do?
- What emotion most influences my customers’ decisions, and does my proposal address it?
- Which customer type am I least able to describe from their point of view?
Bringing it together
An empathy map is a simple way to see customers from the inside: what they say, think, do and feel, and the pains and gains that drive them. Built from real evidence and revisited as you learn, it improves selling, delivery and product design alike. Built from assumptions and filed away, it adds nothing.
The workbook places it at the end of the process, in the solidifying stage, which is apt. The longer you work with a customer, the richer and more accurate the map becomes, and the better you can serve them.
Topics and structure drawn from the Managing Your Opportunities sales workshop workbook (Charlie Pidcock); the explanations and examples are GoCore’s own. The empathy map format is widely attributed to Dave Gray (XPLANE). Examples are illustrations, not real cases. This article is general information, not professional advice.
