Extend personas with empathy maps

- The empathy map is a great tool to deepen your understanding of your personas by placing them in the context of their surroundings. Creating an empathy map is also a great group exercise for the entire content team to get to know the target audience. To create an empathy map, you simply draw out this diagram on a whiteboard or a large sheet of paper, and then you map out what the persona thinks and feels, sees, says and does, and hears, as well as their pains and gains. The actual process is pretty much akin to a brainstorming exercise where you simply think of a persona and then the whole team starts throwing out ideas about what the person thinks and feels. So if we take my example of a site that serves people who are looking for personal trainers, what would someone who is looking for a personal trainer think or feel? While they would be confused by all the options and excited because they're endeavoring on…