1. What does she see? How does her environment look? Who surrounds her? Who are her friends? What kinds of problems does she encounter? 2. What does she hear? Who influences her and how? Which communication channels are influential for her? What does she hear from her friends and family members? 3. What does she think and feel? What is really important to her? What moves and motivates her? What are her dreams, longings and aspirations? 4. What does she do? How does she behave in public? What is her opinion on certain issues and how does she express it? What does she tell others? (Pay attention to the possible discrepancies between the previous and this section, between thinking and feeling one way and acting differently.) On the bottom of your sheet address the following two topics: Pain – frustrations, unfulfilled dreams, fears, uncertainties, obstacles between her present situation and what she wants to achieve It is important to be aware of your target groups’ so called “pain points” and address them in an empathic way through your communication. How can your product, service or project offers solutions to her problems, how can it bring her closer to her aims, how can it support her to realise her dreams and plans? Gain – What does she really want to achieve? How does she measure success? What is she truly longing for? When communicating with your target group you not only need to address problems and outline how your project can offer solutions – you will also need to tap into the deeper longings, needs and aspirations of the individual persons. And consider how your product or service can contribute to fulfil these aspects. The empathy map encourages you to question your assumptions about your target group’s needs and to look at your offer from their perspective. This helps when answering questions like “does my offer actually solve real problems? Is what I want to offer really relevant? Is my target group willing to pay for it?” After having filled out the empathy map, try to look at your offer from your target group’s perspective: Why should they use it? What will change for them after they have used your offer? If this changes WHAT you are planning to offer, it might be worth jumping back to the beginning of this chapter and integrate your insights into your concept of what exactly you would like to offer.
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