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3.8BeginnerModule 03 · Know Your Market

Voice of Customer Empathy Grid

You're writing marketing copy, designing a feature, or preparing a sales pitch but you're

The prompt

Copy & paste ready
3.8Voice of Customer Empathy Grid
PROMPT — COPY & PASTE READY Act as a customer research analyst using the Empathy Grid. Customer profile : [ROLE, INDUSTRY, COMPANY SIZE] Problem context : [WHAT CHALLENGE THEY FACE DAILY] Real customer data (if available): [PASTE REVIEWS, INTERVIEW NOTES, OR SUPPORT TICKETS] Map the full Empathy Grid: THINKS & FEELS : Inner concerns, hopes, and worries SEES : What their environment looks like HEARS : What colleagues, managers, media tell them SAYS & DOES : Public behaviour and statements PAINS : Frustrations, fears, obstacles GAINS : Desired outcomes and measures of success After the grid: give me 5 exact phrases this customer would use to describe their problem in their own words, not marketing language.
LabelsReplace these

LabelsReplace these

Who should run this prompt

Module role profile

Who should read your competitive landscape? Every market looks different depending on where you are standing. A market researcher sees data. A competitor's strategist sees opportunity. A customer sees none of your positioning — only their own problem. Use this page to choose the right lens before drawing any conclusions about the market you operate in.

The roles below are who the book suggests running this prompt — this lesson’s prompt doesn’t open with a single swappable role clause, so pick one and adapt the prompt’s own wording yourself.

Internal rolesThink from inside the organisation
Chief Marketing OfficerCategory positioning, long-term brand equityDefining where you own a space in the market
Market Research DirectorData accuracy, trend identification, no biasBuilding the evidence base for any market claim
Competitive Intelligence LeadEvery competitor move, white space identificationMapping the landscape before entering or repositioning
Customer Success DirectorWhy customers stay, leave, and what they sayUnderstanding retention drivers and churn signals
Sales ManagerWhat actually closes vs what marketing claimsPressure-testing market assumptions against real deals
Industry Analyst (Gartner/Forrester)Macro trends, category dynamics, benchmarksContextualising your position within the wider industry
Outside perspectivesChallenge your blind spots
Private Equity Due Diligence LeadMarket risk, sizing accuracy, defensible positionBefore raising money or entering a new market
Your Ideal Customer (cold)Sees your positioning with zero prior knowledgeTesting whether your message lands without context
Journalist covering your sectorWhat is the real story — not the PR version?Finding the honest narrative about your market
Regulator or Policy AdvisorRisk, compliance, what could restrict the marketIn regulated industries or before geographic expansion

◆◆◆◆◆ → ◆ seniority, board level down to specialist outside the organisation

How to make any role sharper

  1. Add years of experience: "...with 15 years in enterprise SaaS" produces different depth than just the title.
  2. Add what they care most about: "You care most about [X]" shapes every word of the output.
  3. Add their communication style: "Be direct. Flag risks first. No jargon." changes the tone entirely.
See also: 1.3 Role Prompting - The Expert Chair

Use this when

The problem it solves

writing from your perspective, not your customer's. Your message is accurate but it doesn't land.

How the framework works

From the printed page

The Empathy Grid, popularised by IDEO and widely used in design thinking, maps what your customer Thinks and Feels, Sees, Hears, Says and Does, and their Pains and Gains. Combined with Voice of Customer (VOC) research - the actual words customers use to describe their problems - it builds a rich picture of the customer's inner world. AI can simulate this map quickly when given enough context, and help you extract VOC language from customer interviews or reviews. A grid built from assumptions just formalizes your own guesses. VOC matters because customers rarely describe problems the way you'd describe your solution.

The method, in 3 moves

Do these in order
1

Feed AI your customer's industry, role, and the problem they face. 2. Also paste in any real customer reviews, interview notes, or support tickets you have.

2

Focus especially on the Pains and Gains quadrants, these drive copy and product decisions.

3

Pull exact phrases from the VOC output and use them verbatim in your marketing. Get inside your customer's head before building or writing anything AI can simulate an empathy map but it cannot replace real customer conversations. Use the AI output as a hypothesis - then verify at least three points directly with an actual customer before writing copy or making product decisions

Where the framework comes from

IDEO Design Thinking — Empathy Map, popularised early 2000s

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Framework3.8 of 108
Printed onPages 8485
Prompt extracted18 Sept 2026
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