See Part One of “What is Empathy Mapping?” here. At Corona, we do research on numerous topics. Our clients come to us with varied questions and with each engagement, we pride ourselves on taking a personalized approach. As a qualitative researcher, I often am tasked with looking through mountains of qualitative data and finding patterns in behaviors or actions. Sometimes we go a step further and take those patterns of behaviors and develop personas. Let’s walk through a fictional project to better understand how empathy maps and personas work together to understand the user experience.

The Land of Wonder Amusement Park—Visitor Research

The Situation: The Land of Wonder Amusement Park has been a family destination for Whereville residents since 2002. Since its founding, the park has increased in size and is serving approximately 1.2 millions visitors each year. The peak season for attendance is the months of May, June, July, and August, when the Park can serve 20,000 visitors a day. In 2018, the Park was purchased by a local Whereville investor who wants to improve the park experience for visitors.

The Research Objective: To goal of this research is to understand how visitors experience The Land of Wonder Amusement Park.

Approach: Corona Insights conducted 15 interviews with local residents who have attended the Land of Wonder Amusement Park within the past 12 months. The interviews were conducted via Zoom and each lasted approximately 30 minutes. All interviews were audiorecorded for analysis purposes.

Key Findings: After sifting through interview transcripts, we uncovered two main “types” of visitors to the Land of Wonder Amusement Park: Thrill seekers and Experiencers. Corona provided the client with two empathy maps that outline these two visitor personas alongside a detailed PowerPoint report outlining all research findings.

Recommendations: Given the two key personas identified, Corona developed recommendations for each.

Recommendations for Thrill Seekers:

  • Develop park maps highlighting the biggest and fastest rides
  • Have meet-up spots so  parties can easily find each other if they separate
  • Provide a “fast track” pass. The pass will allow visitors to stand in a shorter “fast track” line for a higher per ticket admission price.

Recommendations for Experiencers:

  • Set up areas where friends and family members can take pictures to document their experience together
  • Provide maps with suggested paths through the park, highlighting rides and other attractions
  • Provide a “fast track” pass. The pass will allow visitors to stand in a shorter “fast track” line for a higher per ticket admission price.