How to Tap Into the Power of Emotional Buying

What motivates a person to buy one product over another or, for that matter, to buy any product at all?

Zig Ziglar gives the short answer: “People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.”

Try as you might to resist that notion, the truth is that purchasing decisions are often based, not on rational choice, but on something much more unpredictable, human emotion. Psychology Today’s “How We Convince Ourselves to Buy Products We Don’t Need” notes: “No amount of logic or reasoning can overcome strong feelings because the emotionally charged mind will always find its reasons to believe.”

Thus, the Holy Grail for marketers is to tap into the power of emotional buying. But what is emotional buying, exactly? How can eSellers use psychology to tap into it? And what emotions are the most persuasive to consumers?

Understanding the Science of Emotional Buying

Is it possible to make a purchasing decision solely on the basis of rational analysis? Maybe, but not likely. Back in 1994, a neuroscience professor named Antonio Damasio published a book entitled Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain. The book was based on a series of case studies of people with brain damage that rendered them incapable of processing emotions.

Strikingly, Damasio found that a lack of emotion made it difficult for the subjects to make decisions. Even though their rational brains were intact, the inability to process emotion meant that they had no feeling about the options presented to them. When emotion was taken completely out of the equation, decision making became much more difficult.

This indicates that the human brain is designed to use emotion when making a decision. Of course, the brain is also capable of rational thought. Thus, it would appear that emotion and rational thought should both play a part in a purchasing decision. But which part is stronger?

Evidence would indicate that emotions play a bigger role in purchasing decisions than logic and reasoning ability. Why? Psychology Today’s “How Emotions Influence What We Buy” observes: “For consumers, perhaps the most important characteristic of emotions is that they push us toward action. In response to an emotion, humans are compelled to do something. In a physical confrontation, fear forces us to choose between “fight or flight” to insure our self-preservation. In our daily social confrontations, insecurity may cause us to buy the latest iPhone to support our positive self-identity.”

In other words, the emotional part of the brain (the limbic system) can sometimes short-circuit the rational part of the brain (the neocortex), causing the buyer to react emotionally rather than logically to a presented set of options.

Key Emotional Drivers that Influence Buyers

While all emotions can provoke a response, not all emotions are equally provocative. Generally speaking, there are five core emotions that are most effective at producing a response. They are:

• Fear
• Guilt
• Pride
• Greed
• Love

How do marketers use these five emotions to influence purchasing decisions? Consider this example. A manufacturer of diapers might market a more expensive diaper than competitors. Rationally speaking, if the competitor’s diapers are just as effective at doing the job, mothers the world over would choose the less expensive diaper.

However, what happens when emotions come into play? Suppose the more expensive diaper is positioned as the more environmentally friendly choice? Then, a mother’s guilt may come into play, and she chooses the diaper that she thinks will harm the environment less.

Suppose the more expensive diaper is positioned as the more comfortable of the two or the one that prevents diaper rash more effectively? Then, fear for her baby’s skin safety and love for the baby may cause the mother to choose the more expensive diaper. Her pride in being a good mother may also come into the picture. When all of these subtle factors are brought to bear, suddenly the decision to pay considerably more for one item over another comparable item seems rational to the mother. The deal is sealed.

To provoke this emotional response, the diaper manufacturer does not always have to make overt claims that its product is more environmentally friendly, prevents diaper rash better than the competition, or is more comfortable. Something as simple as a seal on the label with a green leaf, or an image of a drop of what looks like lotion, or a magnified image of the quilting inside the diaper can prompt the desired emotional response in the mother.

Exploring the Likability Factor

A recent BigCommerce article notes that likability is a core driver of marketing success. The article references a landmark 2005 study of magazine ads, which found that up to 80 percent of an ad’s memorability is tied to its likeability.

The more likable the marketing message is, the more memorable it becomes. The more memorable it is, the more firmly entrenched your brand message is in the mind and heart of your target audience. Engendering a positive emotion in the minds of your audience builds a strong relationship with them. Interestingly, even those ads that provoke an initial negative response but then end on a positive note are more successful than ads that appeal merely to rational thought.

What eSellers Can Do to Maximize the Potential for Emotional Buying

How can eSellers up their likability factor and provoke an emotional buying response? There are several ways to accomplish this. For instance, many eSellers find that including humor in their marketing message is effective. Humor is tricky in a global marketplace, however, because humor does not always translate well from one culture to another. Marketers choosing to use humor must walk a fine line between entertaining their audience and possibly offending them.

Storytelling is another method of improving your brand’s likability. Humans have an innate interest in stories from an early age. Marketing a consistent story to your audience will help you keep your brand front and center in their minds and hearts.

Word choice is especially critical. Consider carefully how each word of your copy will affect your audience. Does your wording build empathy, or drive a wedge? Even small differences in word choice can add up to a completely different vibe for your copy. For instance, in your call to action, which is more likely to have success: “Click here” or “Get your Product X today”?

The use of imagery is also important. This includes imagery in the written word in the form of metaphors and similes, which are easily understood and provoke an emotional response. However, it also includes visual imagery. The richer and more vivid your imagery is, the more likely it will be to prompt an emotional response in the buyer.

However, rich imagery alone is not enough. For instance, have you ever seen a commercial with stunning visuals and evocative audio and then, at the end of the commercial, wondered what product was being sold? This common experience exemplifies why clarity is also needed.

Looking at your marketing copy, is its message clear? Does it provoke a positive response? Does each content piece clearly connect with your overall brand messaging? If you answer “yes” to all these questions, you have created a good piece of content for the emotional buyer.

Familiarity Breeds … Better Sales Figures

Closely related to likability in prompting emotional buying is familiarity. Though the common saying is that familiarity breeds contempt, in marketing that is not necessarily the case. In a global marketplace where everything is constantly changing, a consistent and familiar brand message can act as a sort of homing device for consumers.

B2C’s “Marketing and the Familiarity Principle” explains: “The familiarity principle is the tendency among human beings to develop a preference for things which they see more often … In short, the most well-known brand wins. This is true to the extent that customers will actually choose the most familiar brand, even if they know nothing else about the brand or product, and even if the better-known brand is actually inferior to a less-well-known brand also on sale.”

Because familiarity comforts consumers, a positive emotional response occurs. Then, if you subtly inject a bit of the unexpected in the form of humor or a piece of excellent storytelling, the response becomes even stronger. A sale is made.

The Marketing One-Two Punch: Combining Emotion and Logic

Generating a strong emotional response in your marketing will help personify your brand and enable consumers to identify more readily with your message. However, for the most part, consumers like to believe that the decisions they are making are rooted in logic and reason.

Therefore, it is important to give consumers a means of rationalizing their purchase decisions. This can include providing case studies, user reviews, and other reinforcing verbiage in your marketing content. Giving consumers something they can “hang their hat on”, so to speak, will help inch even less emotional buyers toward a purchase decision. Providing social proof is an increasingly important part of appealing to the emotions of digital savvy consumers.

Tying It All Together

Understanding the significant role of emotion in the purchasing decision helps eSellers to concentrate on evoking positive emotional responses in consumers. You can prompt emotional buying with great storytelling techniques, engaging visuals, a consistent and familiar branding message, and incorporation of social proof in your marketing campaigns.

As your products reach an increasingly global audience, sticking to the basics of human emotion will help you to stand out from the competition. Once you go global, we can help you get paid for your products with our online seller payment processing solutions.