Empathy Map
Separate what a customer says and does from what they actually think and feel.
10 min · XPLANE, popularised through the Business Model Generation methodology
What is this framework?
An empathy map organises observations about a customer into four quadrants — what they say, think, do and feel — plus their pains and gains. It highlights the gap between what people claim and what they actually experience, pushing founders to notice contradictions rather than take statements at face value.
People do not always say what they think, and what they do does not always match what they say. A customer might tell you price does not matter, then choose the cheapest option every time. The empathy map exists to hold these different layers of evidence side by side so contradictions become visible instead of being smoothed over.
The four core quadrants — says, thinks, does, feels — are filled in using direct observation and quotes from real interactions, ideally captured immediately after a customer conversation or observation session. Two additional zones, pains and gains, summarise the frustrations and hopes that emerge from all four quadrants combined.
The tool works best as a debrief exercise straight after fieldwork, while memory of tone, hesitation and body language is still fresh, rather than as something filled in from memory days later.
What problem does it help solve?
- Reveals contradictions between stated opinions and actual behaviour
- Captures emotional and social context that surveys often miss
- Gives a quick, shared debrief format for a team after customer interviews
- Feeds directly into building a more accurate customer persona
The framework
Internal
Says
Direct quotes from what the customer said
Thinks
What they seem to believe but may not say aloud
Does
Observed actions and behaviours
Feels
Emotions expressed or implied
External
Pains and gains are drawn out from patterns across all four quadrants.
Every part explained
Says
Direct quotes capturing exactly what the customer said in their own words.
Ask: What did they literally say?
Example: "I usually just skip lunch, it's not a big deal."
Thinks
Beliefs or worries the customer holds but may not state directly.
Ask: What might they be thinking but not saying?
Example: She may actually resent having to skip meals but downplays it.
Does
Observable actions and habits, based on what you saw rather than what was claimed.
Ask: What did they actually do?
Example: Checked her phone for food delivery apps twice during the interview.
Feels
Emotional signals such as tone, frustration, excitement or relief.
Ask: What emotion came through?
Example: Sounded mildly frustrated when describing canteen queues.
Pains
Frustrations and obstacles that emerge across the four quadrants.
Ask: What recurring frustration shows up?
Example: Time pressure between classes causing rushed, unsatisfying meals.
Gains
Hopes and desired outcomes that emerge across the four quadrants.
Ask: What recurring hope or desire shows up?
Example: Wants a proper meal without losing study or rest time.
Worked example — A student searching for internships
A founder researching a career-services app shadowed and interviewed a final-year student during internship season.
Says
"I've applied to over 30 internships, I'm sure something will come through."
Thinks
Privately worries she is behind her peers and running out of time.
Does
Refreshes her email constantly and reuses the same generic cover letter for every application.
Feels
Anxious and slightly embarrassed, despite sounding confident when speaking.
Pains
Wasted effort from applying broadly with the same materials, and no feedback on why applications fail.
Gains
Wants a clear sense of which applications are worth her time and how to improve her chances.
The gap between her confident statement and anxious tone told the founder that a simple 'application tracker' wasn't the real product to build — targeted feedback was.
How to use it
- 1Conduct an interview or observation session with a real target customer.
- 2Immediately afterwards, write down direct quotes under 'Says'.
- 3Note observed actions under 'Does', separate from anything they claimed.
- 4Infer likely thoughts and feelings under 'Thinks' and 'Feels', flagging these as interpretations.
- 5Look across all four quadrants for contradictions between what was said and done.
- 6Summarise recurring frustrations as pains and recurring hopes as gains.
Try it yourself
Debrief a recent customer conversation or observation using the four quadrants.
Says
Thinks
Does
Feels
Pains
Gains
Your work stays on this device. Nothing is uploaded, so use the same browser to come back to it.
When to use it
- Immediately after a customer interview or observation session, as a debrief
- When building or refining a customer persona
- When a team suspects stated customer opinions may not match real behaviour
When not to rely on it
This framework does not prove:
- • The thinks and feels quadrants are interpretations, not facts, and can be biased by the researcher's own assumptions.
- • It works best on a small number of interactions, so it should not be treated as statistically representative.
- • It captures a single moment and may not reflect how views change over time.
Common mistakes
- Filling in the map from memory days after the interview, losing important detail
- Treating inferred thoughts and feelings as confirmed facts
- Skipping the 'does' quadrant and relying only on what the customer said
- Not looking for contradictions between quadrants, which is the main value of the tool
Connections
Related concepts
Related frameworks
Quick check
Why does the empathy map separate 'says' from 'does'?
Remember this
Listen to what customers say, but trust what they do — and the empathy map is built to surface the gap between the two.