An empathy map is a fast and inexpensive tool to gain insight into what motivates and is most important to your customers. Mapping is used to document what you know about a particular type of user. Empathy maps were originally created by Dave Gray, the founder, and chairman of Xplane. Empathy maps are created in the early stages of a design process after initial research and persona definition and before ideation. Empathy maps help your design team and your management to better understand your customers. They are best created by a team of internal and external stakeholders such as customers, marketing and sales, design, engineering, business management, and suppliers. An empathy map helps your team consider things from the user's perspective. Empathy maps are not a substitute for methods such as experience maps, journey maps or service blueprints which are necessary activities to develop a successful service or experience.