How to create an empathy map to understand your customer better

OK, so yesterday I promised I’d tell you how to create an empathy map.

Creating an empathy map is a powerful way of doing deep market research. It's also one of the keys to sustainable business growth over time.

Empathy is probably one of the least used words in marketing...

... and probably one of the most important!

In my recent conversation with Seth Godin, we talked about this extensively.

Hit reply and let me know if you're interested in learning more about my conversation with Seth Godin.

BTW if you didn’t see yesterday’s email I recommend checking that out first.

Click here to read through that message.

OK so back to empathy maps...

Let me show you how to create one ... step by step

In this audio tutorial (on my podcast), I explain exactly how to do it.

I highly recommend listening to the audio file (it’s only about 6 minutes long) but I’ll lay out the high-level process for you here anyway.

How to go about creating an empathy map:

Take a piece of paper and draw a little circle in the middle (representing your prospect or your customer).
Now, draw four lines from that circle connecting the circle to the top 2 edges of the paper and 2 lines connecting to the 2 sides of the paper about an inch from the edges.
This will create 4 sections (with a little blank section at the bottom of the paper).
Imagine your ideal customer and in the first quadrant, write down the following:

What is my customer thinking?
What is my customer feeling?
What is my target audience saying and doing?
What is my target audience hearing?

In the blank section at the bottom, write down on the left-hand side:

What are his/her fears and frustrations?
What are his/her dreams and aspirations?

Writing this down on a piece of paper is critical. Even better if you can do it on a whiteboard!

Bonus points for doing an empathy map for your customer's state:

Before they use your product or service
While they're using your product or service
After they've used your product or service

What does this exercise achieve?

It helps you get clear on the transformation that your product delivers to your customer.

Go on, try it for yourself.

Best

Ash

P.S. Tomorrow I’ll tell you how to get clear on your customer’s unstated problem.

I’ll explain more tomorrow.

See you then.

Oh, and one more thing ... here's that 9-step mind map I'll be referring to throughout this email course. I recommend printing it out and sticking it on the wall near your computer.