Empathy Maps: Walk in your customer’s shoes

Customers choose products and services that deliver the best experiences. Traditional design techniques like sketching and modelmaking are less effective when designing complex systems of objects, services and experiences. Perhaps the most powerful new methods available for designers and managers are the group of techniques collectively known as experience maps. One of the most important types of experience maps is the empathy map. An empathy map is a strategic tool for capturing key insights into the complex customer interactions that occur across experiences with a product and service ecosystem. Empathy maps are being quickly adopted by designers and organizations all over the world. Designing for your customer’s entire experience is key to differentiating your design from designs of competitors in an increasingly crowded competitive marketplace. Through applying these methods designers and managers can create a holistic user experience by uncovering precisely where to focus efforts to deliver a more compelling and valuable experience. Mapping builds knowledge and consensus across teams and stakeholders, to positively impact your entire organization as well as your customers and designer’s and your organization’s bottom line.