Empathy Mapping: A Customer-Centered Approach to Understanding Decisions
Olympic Research and Strategy
Data with purpose. Strategy with impact.
If you take a moment to think about the journey of choosing a bank, you might realize that it is actually an emotional experience. You don't just look at interest rates or app features, you consider how the choice makes you feel. Do you trust them? Will they help you when it matters? Decisions like these go beyond the facts and figures. They are rooted in emotions, perceptions, and personal priorities. This is where empathy mapping is valuable.
Empathy mapping is a way to step into your customer's point of view. It helps you dig into their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to understand what truly drives their decisions. Whether you're selecting a bank, a car, or a new coffee brand, empathy mapping helps you see what's going on behind the scenes of your audience choices.
So, What Is Empathy Mapping?
Imagine having a blueprint of someone's mind and utilizing it as a tool to break down four key areas that influence how people make decisions. Here is what you would find in a typical empathy map:
Thinking: What's going on in their head? What are they contemplating worrying about, or considering?
Feeling: How are they reacting emotionally? Are they excited, anxious, frustrated?
Saying: What words are they putting out into the world? What's their conversation like?
Doing: What actions are they taking? What websites are they browsing? What are they reading or researching?
But that's not all. Empathy mapping also helps you identify Pains and Gains.
Pains: These are the challenges or frustrations your customer experiences.
Gains: These represent the benefits or goals your customer is seeking. What are they hoping to achieve? Whether it's ease of use, security, or a better experience, Gains show what they truly desire.
By breaking down these areas, you get a clearer picture of what motivates your audience. The more you understand these factors, the easier it is to design solutions that resonate.
When Should You Use It?
There are many situations where empathy mapping can be handy. In our previous article "How Game Theory Saves Marketing Strategy", we briefly mentioned how empathy mapping can be a powerful tool to use. As you learn more through this article, it may become clear how such a tool can be powerful in Game Theory. Here are some other scenarios where empathy mapping can be useful:
Product development: Designing a new app? use an empathy map to uncover what and where features your audience really needs and where they feel most frustrated with existing options.
Marketing campaign: Planning a campaign to attract new customers? Map out what motivates them, what barriers they face, and how your messaging can address their concerns.
Customer experience improvement: Want to improve your customer service? An empathy map can reveal pain points and guide solutions that genuinely improve the user experience.
Example: Choosing a Bank!
Let's bring empathy mapping to life with a relatable scenario. Jamie is an individual who is trying to choose the right bank. Jamie is feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the options available and wants to make sure the bank they choose fits their needs.
Instead of breaking this down in text, take a look at Jamie's empathy map below. It highlights what they're thinking, feeling, saying, and dong, along with their pains and gains as they navigate this decision.
By mapping Jamie's journey out, we can see that she prioritized trustworthiness, simplicity, and customer service. If you were the bank trying to win over Jamie, you'd focus on clearly communicating your customer service strengths, highlighting user-friend digital features, and emphasizing transparency around fees.
Conclusion
Empathy mapping allows you to explore what your customers are thinking, feeling, saying, and doing, as well as understanding their pains and gains. This in turn helps you move beyond assumptions and gain a clearer view of your audience experience to design solutions that work.
For ORS, empathy mapping is an invaluable approach to understanding customers on a deeper level. Whether the focus is on someone like Jamie choosing a bank or another challenge, this process bridges the gap between insight and action.
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