What are the four quadrants of an empathy map?

Says, Thinks, Does and Feels. Extended versions add Pains and Gains, or Sees and Hears. You can add these as extra branches in this template.

What is the difference between an empathy map and a customer journey map?

An empathy map describes a user's mindset at one point in time. A customer journey map describes the steps they take over time. They work well together.

Communication

Empathy Map Template

By RP Hobbyist · Updated October 2026

An empathy map is a design-thinking tool for building a shared understanding of a user. It sorts what you have learned about a person into four quadrants, what they Say, Think, Do and Feel, so a team can see past surface requests to the needs and motivations underneath. It was popularized by Dave Gray and is widely used in UX research and product design.

This template puts the user at the center with the four quadrants as branches. Fill it from interviews, observation and support conversations, then look for contradictions between what people say and what they do. That is often where the best insights are.

Empathy Map template as a mind map — The Empathy Map template as it opens in the editor.

It opens as a new map with 9 topics already filled in. You don't need an account.

Open in the editor

When to use a Empathy Map

Synthesizing user interviews or usability tests
Kicking off a design sprint or product discovery
Building or validating a persona
Helping a team agree on who it is designing for

What goes in each branch

Says: Direct quotes from interviews and feedback: what the user says out loud about the problem.
Thinks: What occupies their mind but may go unsaid: worries, beliefs, priorities.
Does: Observed behavior: actions, workarounds, habits and the tools they use.
Feels: Emotions: frustrations, anxieties, what excites them, how they feel about their current solution.

Example: A student preparing for exams

Says: "I just need one place for all my notes."
Thinks: worries about studying the wrong topics
Does: copies notes between three apps; makes lists late at night
Feels: overwhelmed before exams, relieved once topics are organized

Tips

Use real quotes and observations. An empathy map built on assumptions only confirms what you already believe.
Make one map per user or persona rather than averaging different people together.
Add Pains and Gains branches if you want the extended version of the empathy map.
Look for contradictions between Says and Does; they often reveal unmet needs.

Using this template in Neuron Mapping

Click Open in the editor. The template opens as a new map.
Select a topic and press Tab to add a branch under it, or double-click a topic to change its text.
Select a topic to change its color and shape, or add notes to it in Markdown.
When you're done, export the map as a PDF or PNG, or save it to keep editing later.

Everything runs locally in your browser: your map is saved on your device, works offline, and can be exported as PDF, PNG or an editable .nmm file.