“People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.”
Zig Ziglar
Emotions are powerful. They more often than not are the driving force behind many things us humans do, even making a purchase. I’ve always been fascinated by how the human mind works- how we make decisions, how we determine our feelings, and how our feelings impact the decisions we make. Since deciding to double major in psychology and marketing it has become increasingly clear to me that appealing to emotions can go a long way in the marketing world. There’s a reason why the commercials we see on TV have (for example) bright colors, upbeat music, dialogues, humor, and even mini stories. All of these things are meant to extract a certain feeling from the viewer. They are meant to illustrate to the viewer that if they buy a product, they will feel the same way they felt watching the commercial.
The first point I’d like to touch on is simply the power of eliciting any emotion. Consider the following two ads:
Imagine you’re a Ford fanatic. You want to buy a new car and these two dealerships are your local options if you want to buy a Ford. Which dealership would you want to go to? Hint: the right answer is the second one. While the first ad had upbeat music and smiling employees, it doesn’t put the viewer into a heightened emotional state. Watching the second ad, I could imagine the emotional atmosphere that exists at Scarsdale Ford. Instead of telling us that the mangers at the dealership are excited about selling cars, Scarsdale showed us. In a unique turn from the two typical car dealership commercials (you know the ones, they’re either all smiles like the first one OR they’re blaringly loud, with the owner trying to ramp up excitement by yelling about deals and APR), this commercial was a small scene. The little monologue that the manager delivered was funny and passionate. He gave no information about deals or the buying process or even the customer service. Yet I could picture my customer experience. I’d be working with people who love cars and are friendly and laid-back. The worst thing is walking into a dealership where every sales rep takes themselves too seriously and just care about pushing you into a car. The feelings elicited by this commercial are quite different than the feelings that arise when I think about this undesirable type of dealership.
A second point I’d like to touch on is when emotional decision making works. In other words, we’re discussing when emotional tie-ins work best from a consumer standpoint.
I found this awesome article on HBR that described how buyers have a rational side and an intuitive side. This intuitive side accounts for about 95% of buyers’ purchasing decisions, according to the article. These impulse buys are a result of emotion that we often try to logically justify, but at the end of the day it really is all down to our feelings.
When is this the case? Turns out, it is when we are making bigger decisions. Think about, say, one of the Ford vehicles from the commercials above. Sure, there are a ton of logistics that go into picking a car. It’s a big, expensive purchase and one that you will constantly be utilizing. Shouldn’t that mean that marketers should focus on sharing information with the consumer? Actually, because of the sheer fact that there is so much relevant information that could influence a big decision like buying a car, a buyer could get caught in an “analysis paralysis.” But deep down, the subconsious self is not subject to this restraint and can make the gut decision that leads a buyer to the best car for them.
The author of the article, Michael D. Harris, says,
“If you want to influence how a customer feels about your product, provide an experience that creates the desired emotion… Rather than thinking of the emotional mind as irrational, think of it this way: an emotion is simply the way the unconscious communicates its decision to the conscious mind.”
So for those big purchases, marketers should appeal to the subconscious by eliciting emotion. But for smaller purchases which have less factors to consider, marketers should stick to the facts and advertise based on attributes, use, etc. Just think– commercials for Apple products are emotional journeys that illustrate not how the technology works or how fast the processing is, but rather how the products being people together (case in point). Would you expect a tear-jerker of that sort from, say, a toilet paper company? No.
Long story short, emotional tie-ins can be amazingly useful for marketers. While there are instances in which it is definitely better to stick to the facts, there is no denying the benefits of appealing to buyers’ emotions.
Modern Marketing Musings 