Most human decisions are based on emotion, not logic. This holds true not just for big choices like selecting a college or buying a house—consider this research about everyday buying decisions:
- MRI brain scans show that consumers use emotions rather than information when evaluating brands.
- Advertising research reveals that a consumer's intent to buy a product is influenced two to three times more by their emotional response to an ad than by the ad’s content.
It’s clear that the most compelling marketing messages tap into an audience’s feelings. But which is more effective: appealing to positive or negative emotions?
Positive Emotions
Positive emotions that marketing can leverage include happiness, amusement, security, ease and belonging. Of course you want your audience to have good feelings about your product or organization, but making people laugh or giving them the “warm fuzzies” usually isn’t enough—you want them to act. Studies show that using positive emotions increases an audience’s trust in a company or message, but it’s less effective in influencing immediate buying behavior. The takeaway: Appealing to positive emotions is a strategy best used for brand awareness campaigns or informational pieces, where the intent is to cultivate a good impression rather than to drive action.
Negative Emotions
Taking the opposite approach, marketers can tap into negative emotions such as fear, worry, frustration or embarrassment. Fear is an especially effective attention-getter because it’s hardwired to the human survival instinct.
Negative emotions may get customers’ attention, but be careful with your tactics—you don’t want people’s tendency to avoid unpleasant feelings to drive them away from your marketing. To use a negative emotion for persuasion, you need to tell the audience how to relieve the emotion with your product or service. Make sure your message offers a clear solution to the customer’s problem to get rid of the unpleasant feeling.
Positive emotion can also be incorporated so that your marketing ends on an up note:
- Empathize with customer struggles (“We’ve all been there”) or offer reassurance (“We’re your partner in this.”)
- When you’re offering a solution, shift to a more positive tone rather than dwelling on the negativity.
While facts and features are essential parts of a marketing piece, an emotional appeal is a great hook to draw the audience in. Positive emotions are best used for informational and awareness campaigns, but negative emotions are better at compelling customers to act. Want advice on hitting the emotional sweet spot in your next campaign? An image.works representative can discuss ideas and strategies with you—reach out today!
Sources
www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/inside-the-consumer-mind/201302/how-emotions-influence-what-we-buy
www.hbr.org/2021/02/want-your-ad-to-go-viral-activate-these-emotions