Bastian Külzer

Turn your feature backlog into an actionable matrix of prioritized initiatives using these three frameworks:

An example on buying a TV illustrates how to apply the empathy map.

The Feels quadrant is the user’s emotional state, often represented as an adjective plus a short sentence for context. Ask yourself: what worries the user? What does the user get excited about? How does the user feel about the experience?

The Does quadrant encloses the actions the user takes. From the research, what does the user physically do? How does the user go about doing it?

The Thinks quadrant captures what the user is thinking throughout the experience. Ask yourself (from the qualitative research gathered): what occupies the user’s thoughts?

The Says quadrant contains what the user says out loud in an interview or some other usability study. Ideally, it contains verbatim and direct quotes from research.

Traditional empathy maps are split into 4 quadrants (Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels), with the user or persona in the middle.