Pain Point Analysis 💢 Prompts

 Purpose: Pain Point Analysis helps surface the real frictions, blockers, and frustrations users face while interacting with a product or service. 

Design Thinking Phase: Define 

Time: 45–60 min session + 1–2 hours analysis 

Difficulty: ⭐⭐ 

When to useWhen user feedback feels too broad or generalisedWhen refining a core journey or high-traffic flowBefore initiating solution ideation based on real user struggles

What it is

Pain Point Analysis is a focused method that identifies where users encounter friction across a product experience. It draws from qualitative insights (e.g. usability testing, interviews) and overlays them with user flows to map out emotional and functional blockers. The objective is to recognise what’s making users fail, abandon tasks, or feel frustrated — not just where, but why.

📺 Video by NNgroup. Embedded for educational reference.

Why it matters

Even the best-designed flows can hide micro-frictions. Pain Point Analysis reveals the emotional undercurrent of UX breakdowns, giving deeper context than data dashboards or engagement metrics. When used properly, it closes the gap between user data and product decisions, ensuring you're solving meaningful problems, not just tweaking interfaces.

When to use

• Auditing an existing feature or journey with low completion rates
• Before moving from problem space to solutions in early-stage design sprints
• After moderating a round of usability testing or interview sessions

Benefits

• Rich Insights: Helps uncover user needs that aren’t visible in metrics.
• Flexibility: Works across various project types and timelines.
• User Empathy: Deepens understanding of behaviours and motivations.

How to use it

• Gather source material: usability test notes, interview transcripts, support tickets, NPS data.
• Sketch each step of the core journey a user is taking. Use a linear timeline or flow diagram.
• Overlay direct user quotes and observed reactions onto pain points per step.
• Organise pain points into categories (e.g. Confusion, Delay, Error, Expectation Gap).
• Map these against business impact (low, medium, high) and confidence level.
• Turn critical pain points into problem statements or HMW questions for ideation.

Example Output

Journey: Account creation for SME payroll software

Pain Point Summary:

• Step 2 – Business Details Form: “I don’t know which ABN to use for multiple entities.” (Category: Confusion)
• Step 3 – Plan Selection: Users hesitate due to lack of cost clarity. (Category: Expectation Gap)
• Step 5 – Confirmation Email: Email lands in spam folder frequently. (Category: Error)

Top Ranked HMW Statement: “How might we reduce hesitation by clarifying pricing earlier in the decision flow?”

Common Pitfalls

• Over-generalising: Avoid clustering too many diverse issues into one vague pain point. Be specific.
• No user voice: Don’t paraphrase everything. Include direct quotes — emotion matters.
• Jumping to solutions: Resist turning analysis sessions into fix-it brainstorms too early.

10 Design-Ready AI Prompts for Pain Point Analysis – UX/UI Edition

How These Prompts Work (C.S.I.R. Framework)

Each of the templates below follows the C.S.I.R. method — a proven structure for writing clear, effective prompts that get better results from ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or any other LLM.

C.S.I.R. stands for:

•  
• Context: Who you are and the UX situation you're working in
•  
• Specific Info: Key design inputs, tasks, or constraints the AI should consider
•  
• Intent: What you want the AI to help you achieve
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• Response Format: The structure or format you want the AI to return (e.g. checklist, table, journey map)

 
Level up your career with smarter AI prompts. Get templates used by UX leaders — no guesswork, just results.Design faster, research smarter, and ship with confidence.First one’s free. Unlock all 10 by becoming a member. 

Prompt Template 1: “Map User Friction into a Journey Flow:”

Map User Friction into a Journey Flow:

Context: You are a UX researcher summarising usability test findings for a product onboarding flow.
Specific Info: The flow includes [5 key steps], with evidence of [drop-off and confusion in steps 2 and 4].
Intent: Visualise user friction points as part of a flow diagram that informs redesign priorities.
Response Format: Provide a table with columns: Step, Observed Pain Point, Category (e.g. Confusion, Delay), Confidence Level, Direct Quote.

If any friction or data point is weak, flag that for team validation.
Then, suggest how to turn high-pain areas into “How might we” questions.

Prompt Template 2: “Cluster Pain Points by Root Cause:”

Cluster Pain Points by Root Cause:

Context: You are leading a synthesis session post user interviews for a B2B SaaS product.
Specific Info: Pain points include issues around pricing, account setup, and billing disputes.
Intent: Group these into deeper systemic categories to inform strategy and roadmap design.
Response Format: Return a table showing clusters, recurring symptoms, and potential root causes.

If categories cross over, ask for clarification before collapsing them.
Suggest one follow-up workshop technique to explore the biggest root cause further.

Prompt Template 3: “Write Problem Statements from Observed Pain Points:”

Write Problem Statements from Observed Pain Points:

Context: You are synthesising research findings into design-aligned problem statements.
Specific Info: You have notes from [5 interviews] and [1 usability test] for a complex dashboard product.
Intent: Convert user frustrations into framed problem statements for use in ideation.
Response Format: List 3–5 statements prefixed with “User struggles to…” or “User is uncertain when…”

Clarify any contradictions across the research before proceeding.
Include one “How might we” per statement to guide ideation.

Prompt Template 4: “Prioritise Pain Points vs Business Impact:”

Prioritise Pain Points vs Business Impact:

Context: You’re in a cross-functional session reviewing research from mobile onboarding friction.
Specific Info: Common issues include abandoned signups and verification failures.
Intent: Rank pain points by severity, user impact, and alignment with OKRs.
Response Format: Table with: Pain Point, User Impact Level, Business Risk, Suggested Priority (High/Med/Low)

If business goals aren’t defined, flag need for clarification.
Suggest one visual format (e.g. quadrant map) as next step.

Prompt Template 5: “Highlight Emotional Friction Behind Behavioural Drop-off:”

Highlight Emotional Friction Behind Behavioural Drop-off:

Context: You’re analysing why users drop off after reaching a feature tour.
Specific Info: Feature usage is 40% lower than expected despite visibility.
Intent: Detect emotional blockers like fear, overload, or mismatch of expectations.
Response Format: Bullet list: Observed Step, Likely Emotion, Evidence (Quote), Design Implication

Ask for clarification if existing feedback lacks emotional descriptors.
Suggest a follow-up metric or method to validate emotional assumptions.

Prompt Template 6: “Generate HMW Questions from Pain Point Categories:”

Generate HMW Questions from Pain Point Categories:

Context: Synthesising pain point themes after remote onboarding studies.
Specific Info: Categories include mismatch expectations, unclear language, and delayed responses.
Intent: Translate grouped pain points into ideation-ready questions.
Response Format: Table mapping Category → Pain Point Summary → HMW Question

If input themes feel overlapping, clarify structure.
Suggest one ideation method to prioritise HMWs.

Prompt Template 7: “Audit Support Tickets for Pain Point Themes:”

Audit Support Tickets for Pain Point Themes:

Context: Your team wants to learn from CS data to inform redesign of the billing UI.
Specific Info: You have 3 months of anonymised Intercom tickets tagged ‘billing’.
Intent: Identify repeated friction points users encounter post-purchase.
Response Format: Return top 5 pain themes with representative quotes and ticket volumes.

Check for overlapping technical vs UX issues clearly.
Suggest one way to triangulate with session replay data.

Prompt Template 8: “Identify Microcopy Pain Points:”

Identify Microcopy Pain Points:

Context: You’re reviewing interface text in a critical flow (checkout, verify, onboarding).
Specific Info: Users abandon tasks citing “not understanding” what to do next.
Intent: Spot unclear language, jargon, and ambiguity causing cognitive friction.
Response Format: List of UI labels, current text, issue summary, and rewrite suggestions.

Ask if localisation or tone guidelines apply.
Suggest one A/B test or usability test question to validate new copy.

Prompt Template 9: “Compare Pain Points Across Personas:”

Compare Pain Points Across Personas:

Context: You’re reviewing usability findings across 3 personas using a job-tracking app.
Specific Info: Each persona has different tech proficiency and needs.
Intent: Compare where pain points converge vs deviate across segments.
Response Format: Table showing Step, Persona, Pain Point, Shared vs Unique.

Ask to confirm persona profiles if unclear.
Suggest one next step to address divergent needs in UI.

Prompt Template 10: “Synthesize Open Survey Responses into Friction Themes:”

Synthesize Open Survey Responses into Friction Themes:

Context: You collected 200+ responses from a post-checkout survey in an ecomm product.
Specific Info: Users answered “What nearly stopped you from completing your order?”
Intent: Group responses into actionable friction themes.
Response Format: 5-7 themes with 1–2 quoted examples per theme and suggested design response.

Ask for anonymised responses if not provided.
Recommend a follow-up question for quant validation.

Recommended Tools

• Dovetail – For synthesising interview and usability insights
• Delighted – To gather NPS comments and open survey feedback
• UXtweak – For testing and journey visualisation

Learn More

• NNGroup: UX Research & Design Articles
• Interaction Design Foundation – Topics
• Google Design Sprint Kit