Empathy mapping – the essential tool for unlocking audience insights

Why use empathy maps?

For charities, empathy maps are particularly powerful. They help you grasp the motivations behind supporters’ actions, tailor communications to resonate with different segments, and design campaigns that hit home on an emotional level. By understanding the nuances of your audience’s experiences, you can craft messages that truly speak to them.

Also, you can use them to build up personas of your key audiences. The maps capture key behavioural and attitudinal information, which you can add to and include demographic data, to then design a persona.

Empathy mapping is also a great way to bring together people from across the organisation, to share their valuable knowledge and insights in a collaborative way.

Running an empathy mapping session

To get started with empathy mapping, gather a diverse group from your internal team. This might include people from your Comms team, fundraising, supporter engagement and even frontline people dealing directly with service users.

Here’s a simple guide to conducting your session:

1. Define your audience segment: Be specific about who you’re empathising with. You would create a different map for each segment (e.g. Individual givers, corporate donors, families etc).
2. Fill out the empathy map: Use data, insights, and educated guesses to populate each section with Post-it notes directly onto the map.
3. Identify key insights and opportunities: Look for patterns and themes that emerge.
4. Translate insights into action: Decide how you’ll apply what you’ve learned to your marketing efforts.

Remember, the goal is to build as complete a picture as possible of your audience’s inner world.

Tips for effective empathy mapping

To maximise the benefits of empathy mapping, consider these tips:

• Involve people from different departments: This brings varied perspectives and enriches the understanding.
• Use real data where possible: Insights gained previously from surveys, interviews, and social media can provide a solid foundation.
• Keep it user-focused: Avoid assumptions and generalisations. Stay true to what you know about your audience.
• Update regularly: As you learn more about your audience, revisit and revise your empathy maps.
• Turn insights into narratives: Create stories around your findings to make them more relatable and actionable.

Empathy mapping is more than just a tool; it’s a pathway to deeper connection with your audience. By embracing this approach, charities can ensure their messages are not just heard, but really connect with people.