Demonstrating a Two-Method Experiment-the Use of a Digital Tool and Empathy Map in Designing Empathic Phygital Experiences in a Peripheral Destination

his qualitative case study demonstrates how a two-method experiment was conducted using a digital tool—a mobile head-mounted eye-tracking device—and an empathy map to explore the on-site customer experience at a smartphone-mediated narrative service of a non-profit museum actor. The experiment was conducted in co-creation with two organisations the other being a higher education tourism institution. At the smartphone-mediated service, the customer experience is phygital—a blend of physical and digital—occurring on the physical and digital touchpoints. Hence, to empathise with non-profit museum actor as a stakeholder and customers as end-users of the service, this research recommends that an innovative two-method combination is a suitable and convenient way to collect and analyse the phygital experiences. This research explores how to prototype a two-method experiment as a proof of concept by utilising simulative and projective empathy oscillating in empathy-oriented design thinking method phases. More specifically, the study provides practical insights and proposals on how to execute the experiment by first implementing simulative empathy on the mobile head-mounted eye-tracking and empathy map data collection phase to empathise with the non-profit museum actor, which is then followed by the projective empathy in empathising with museum visitors’ phygital experiences. The findings and implications of this research cannot be generalised. However, the study provides value and novelty for non-profit actors in peripheral regions of all potential to design experiments applying digital tool and simulative and projective empathy.