Humans like to believe that they make decisions with their heads, not their hearts. However, as recent research on emotional marketing demonstrates, this is not the case. According to studies, the majority of consumers are motivated by emotions rather than logic; they make purchasing decisions based on how they feel.
As marketers, it is critical that we understand this and develop strategies for leveraging stories that appeal to our audience’s emotions. This, in turn, can help us increase our conversion rates.
According to a Harvard Business Review study, connecting with customers’ emotions is a highly effective strategy for increasing prospect conversion and sales for your business.
After studying hundreds of brands, the researchers discovered that when companies used emotional marketing thoughtfully and strategically, conversions increased significantly. In some instances, new customer growth increased by as much as 40%.
It’s becoming more difficult to market products and services as the landscape becomes more competitive. To aid in the differentiation of your brand, you must develop an effective system. This article discusses emotional marketing and how you can use it to maximize the effectiveness of your efforts.
How is emotional marketing defined?
Emotional marketing aims to appeal to your ideal customers’ emotions in order to elicit the desired response — which is usually a sale.
This type of marketing can be extremely effective because it inspires people and establishes a personal connection with them. It enables you to establish a stronger bond with your customers by appealing to their most primal emotions, needs, and desires.
As consumer neuroscience expert Roger Dooley puts it, when it comes to emotional marketing, the proof is in the pudding.
After analyzing 1,400 case studies of successful advertising campaigns, researchers discovered that campaigns with purely emotional content performed roughly twice as well as rational campaigns (31% to 16%).
Dooley and other neuromarketing experts attribute this to two well-established facts about our brains: our brains can process emotional input without being cognitively aware of it, and our brains more effectively record emotional stimuli than other stimuli.
There are numerous strategies for incorporating emotional marketing into your own business. The manner in which you do so will be determined by your specific customers and their motivations. However, as a starting point, here are five proven strategies for achieving results through emotional marketing.
Inspire FOMO by instilling a sense of urgency
As humans, we have an innate desire to be a part of things and dislike being left out. FOMO is an acronym for “fear of missing out,” and it occurs when people feel excluded from a particular activity.
FOMO marketing leverages this emotion to compel your audience to make a purchase in order to avoid missing out on a product or service that benefits others. By instilling a sense of urgency in your marketing content, you can help your target customers overcome FOMO.
Neil Patel, a digital marketing influencer, concurs. He cites a study of millennials in which it was discovered that up to 69 percent experience FOMO when they are unable to attend an event. Neil encourages marketers to apply the same logic to their Facebook advertisements, not just for events, but for all products and services.
The Search Engine Journal recommends using deadlines to instill a sense of urgency in your prospects.
For instance, you could offer a limited-time discount on a specific product and inform customers that it will expire in three days. Potential customers who have been putting off purchasing your product may finally be motivated to do so before the price increases.
Indicating that a product is exclusive or in high demand is an excellent strategy for emphasizing the offer’s scarcity and instilling a sense of urgency. You can use phrases such as “limited offer”, “exclusive”, “limited stock”, “don’t miss out”, “hurry!”, “only 5 days left”, and so on in your marketing copy.
