Has anyone noticed that almost every Mother’s Day-related ad on TV and online has gone the route of emotional marketing?
From Hallmark’s heartstring-tugging “One Day†commercialOpens a new window reminding viewers to cherish life’s special moments, to KFC’s “Chickendales†adOpens a new window that makes a far more lighthearted and playful insinuation about what will make Mom happy this year, marketers across the board agree that emotions sell Mother’s Day.
That inherent connection between Mother’s Day and our emotions understandably has convinced most marketers to opt for emotional marketing, calling on universal feelings of happiness, compassion, guilt, anger or sadness to influence people’s buying decisions.
It makes sense as emotions are a key driver of the customer experience and can play a major role in influencing consumer behaviors. They sway buyers.
Research on the topicOpens a new window has found that consumers’ emotional reaction to an ad has a more significant impact on their buying intent than the ad’s actual content.
That’s significant, especially considering that, according to the Harvard Business ReviewOpens a new window , positive emotional bonds between consumers and companies matter more to most people than customer satisfaction.
A 2016 studyOpens a new window by customer experience specialists Tempkin Group documented that emotions are key to building brand loyalty. Compared to consumers who have negative emotional associations with a specific brand, those who have positive emotional associations are:
- 8.4 times more likely to trust that company
- 15.1 times more likely to recommend that company
- 7.1 times more likely to purchase more from that company
- 6.6 times more likely to forgive that company’s mistakes
Relating to the modern consumer
Admittedly, manipulating emotions to sell is hardly a novel strategy.
The way we use emotions to achieve our advertising goals, however, must evolve in line with the changing needs, preferences and behaviors of consumers.
Major marketing trends and tactics these days, such as socially responsible marketingOpens a new window and storytellingOpens a new window , in essence, are modern forms of emotional marketing for today’s younger audiences.
As younger consumer demographics like Generation ZOpens a new window  are gaining more buying power, marketers are leaning hard on the emotional elements of their campaigns.
The aim: Stand out from the competition and keep your brand top of mind.
It explains, for instance, why politically-inspired brand activism is becoming more commonOpens a new window . Many brands and companies are now willing to take a political stand on controversial topics, a strategy long considered a corporate marketing mistake.
It’s become acceptable for brands and companies to share their views and opinions on tough topics because modern consumers are more willing to buy from companies that appeal to their values, and those values are tied to people’s emotions.
These marketing approaches work because they inspire, connect and build trust – key elements of today’s successful digital marketing campaigns.
Crucially, this isn’t the case only for direct-to-consumer, B2C marketing. Emotions are equally important in a B2B context.
In fact, in B2B buying, emotions matter even more than logic or reason: While 68% of B2B buyers who see a personal value will pay a higher price, only 8.5% who see no personal value would do the same.
That means hitting the right mix of emotional triggers directly contributes to ROI. Nielsen found in 2016 that ads with an above-average emotional response from consumers led to 23% sales growth compared to average ads.
Understanding your target audience
Marketing expert Douglas Van Praet writes in his book, Fast Company that “the most startling truth is we don’t even think our way to logical solutions. We feel our way to reason…Emotions don’t hinder decisions. They constitute the foundation on which they’re made!â€
In other words, while logic may justify buying decisions, emotions are the real trigger.
Effective emotional marketing must focus on the ‘why,’ not the ‘how’ or the ‘what.’ “It’s backing away from the features and benefits of the brand and connecting it to your customers’ feelings,†explains emotional marketing expert Glenn Sagon.Opens a new window ,
That type of human connection can act as an emotional call-to-action that compels consumers to buy.
So if a marketer wants to create a successful emotional marketing campaign, it’s essential first to have a solid understanding of the target audience, knowledge that will feed effective use of emotions to relate to consumers’ challenges, values or experiences as a means of connecting with them.
Consumers who are emotionally connected to your brand are twice as valuable than the average highly-satisfied customer. These people will trust your brand more, be more willing to make purchases and less price-sensitive – and more interested in following and engaging with your company across various channels and platforms.
When done well, marketers can use emotional marketing as a vehicle to create content that they know their target audience will enjoy. More importantly, it’s the type of content that will engage those consumers.
Getting in touch with your emotions
How can marketers optimize their emotional marketing?
Unfortunately, the mainstream use of emotion analytics software probably won’t be available in the near future. But that doesn’t mean marketers can’t do their own emotion analytics.
The first step is to use the knowledge of your target consumers to create campaigns that you believe will invoke the right mix of emotions. Then, with the next campaign, try something different.
The key is to measure the emotional reactions – especially on social media – to your various campaigns or individual ads and commercials to pinpoint what works best.
Marketers who understand the emotional decision-making process of their customers possess a secret weapon that can boost ROI.
And isn’t that our golden goose?