The future of marketing is driven by emotions

The Future of Marketing Is Driven by Emotions
BY MORGANE SENEZ

MORGANE SENEZ - FEBRUARY 2021
CONSUMERS RESPOND TO ADVERTISEMENTS WITH EMOTIONS
THEFUTUREOFMARKETINGISDRIVENBYEMOTIONS
Even if we don’t realise it as human beings, and as entrepreneurs, business owner and organisation.
According to Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman, 95% of our purchasing
decisions take place in the subconscious mind, which is overseen by our emotions.
A recent study conducted by Deloitte is backing up those data and is showing the role of emotions are
playing in consumer engagement. They have studied diﬀerent themes like: How emotional connections
between brands and consumers can help develop a relationship and drive brand loyalty.

?
How can you connect emotionally with your audience
at every stage of their customer journey, by assigning
a value to each of the marketing touchpoint?
A touchpoint defines all the place the customer
engages with your brand and where you can
support the completion of the purchase seamlessly.

3 MAIN FACTORS TO CONNECT EMOTIONALLY WITH YOUR CONSUMERS
HOWCANYOUCONNECTEMOTIONALLYWITHYOURCUSTOMERS?
As Deloitte studies shown, there are 3 main factors that will help a brand to connect emotionally with
their consumers:
1Rational considerations Emotional responses Shared values
2 3

Rational Considerations
As the famous marketer, Seth Godin,
explained it purchase decisions are impacted
by rational as well as emotional motives.
Rational factors are price, promotions and
loyalty programme. Both rational and
emotions must be taken into account as they
are part of the consumer decision-making
process as explained by the graph.

Nearly of people who leave while using or
receiving service on a product, leave for rational
reasons such as high prices, faulty products or wrong
orders.
HOWCANYOUCONNECT
EMOTIONALLYWITHYOUR
CUSTOMERS?
Rational Considerations
70%

Emotional responses
Emotional responses are usually led by storytelling. The human brain is built to remember stories rather
than data, and it is known that stories help us identify ourselves to ideas, places, people, or even
products and brands.
When telling your story, it is essential to look from your consumers perspective and tell them how your
product can help them, what solutions does it bring to their issue. Consumers don’t care about your
product what they want to know is how it can benefit them.

of brand-loyal consumers use the same
type of emotional language they use for family,
friends, and pets when speaking of their favourite
brands.
HOWCANYOUCONNECT
EMOTIONALLYWITHYOUR
CUSTOMERS?
Emotional responses
60%

Shared values
Values can be:
• Socially responsible,
• Eco-friendly,
• Or animal welfare,
There are a lot of values out there that your brand can adopt, and you must know that purpose-driven brands
are dominating the conversation. Recent surveys have shown that today’s consumers will choose brands that
they believe can make a diﬀerence in the world. Consumers will choose brands that they feel contribute to a
higher purpose or match their ethos.

Shared values
In the Deloitte report, they state that sharing value with your consumer might not drive loyalty and
build a long-lasting relationship, but it helps brand awareness and positioning on the market. It can be
an element that diﬀerentiates you from a competitor, and you may win points over your competitor
who is not eco-friendly.
You should choose a couple of values and bring social proof rather than relying on the positioning
and marketing of their products. Saying is not enough you should bring proof using certification, label
or behaviour like participating in a tree-planting event with a charity, for example.

Steve Jobs said, in his speech in 1997, that
marketing is about values, and he was right because
it is still the case today but what you have to keep in
mind is what these values mean to your customers,
and getting them to feel that meaning strongly
enough that they buy.
HOWCANYOUCONNECT
EMOTIONALLYWITHYOUR
CUSTOMERS?
Shared values

The emotions wheel
HOWTOIDENTIFYCUSTOMER’SEMOTIONS?
The American psychologist
Robert Plutchik created the
emotions wheel including 8
basics emotions: joy, trust, fear,
surprise, sadness, disgust,
anger, anticipation.

The customer’s emotions
For each marketing actions, it is essential to take into account those emotions, for example, during
sales period some brands will invite you to connect early before items and sizes get sold, but also
before you have time to buy. This leads to more irrational behaviour.
In the digital worlds we are living in, brands can use data and other new technologies to identify
consumers emotions. LVMH is an excellent example; they have analysed people emotions using
Facial coding technology. Many other brands have also used this technology, read some more
example here.

Respond to customer’s emotions
WHATBRANDCANDOTOSHOWTHEYCAREABOUTTHEIR
CUSTOMERS?
This part is about the way you are going to communicate and sale to your audience through the touchpoint your
customer come into contact with you. Customers want to feel and experience something memorable even when
buying a product or a service online.
Brands have to respond to customer’s emotions, below a couple of example:
• Fear: they want to buy a product but are unsure if this is a good fit for their needs
• Joy: they are very excited by the purchase they are about to make and they want to feel it in their online
experience
Responding to customers emotions can be a bit blur concept for entrepreneurs who can’t aﬀord to invest in research
or high tech software that will guess what is their customers emotions. However, you can look at some simple
marketing elements to improve your brand experience and make it memorable.

Customer experience is key to drive emotions
CUSTOMERS?
A little exercise, think back on your most memorable experiences with companies. Chances are, the ones
you remember most clearly have a strong emotional component.
I have some example:
• The famous hotel Ritz-Carlton, offered extended hotel vacation to a toddler giraffe toy, after the little boy
forgot it there. The staff created a series of photographs that included all of the activities the toy had
been involved in during his “extended vacation.”
• Even the Queen Of England sent back to toddler monkey toy lost in Buckingham Palace. Read the full
article here.
Reliable customer service is key to deliver a memorable experience to your customers.

A customer-centered Value proposition is crucial to connect with your audience
CUSTOMERS?
A recent study from Harvard Business Review proves that customers feel most emotionally connected
with a brand when its value proposition aligns with their motivations and desire.
For more about how to create a customer centred value proposition, read this article.

Embrace “Storyliving” rather than “Storytelling”
CUSTOMERS?
Consumers desire a more personal connection, this is why 92% of people trust a recommendation
from a person over a company because people have lost trust in brands. Storytelling is the way
marketers use to create this personal connection. However, the reason why it doesn’t always work is
down to a lack of authenticity.
Storyliving is the new way to enhance a brand’s authenticity, by telling more than a story. The brand is
taking actions whether it is to encourage positive behaviour, support a cause, or create meaningful
experiences.

I have some example of brands who have shifted from
storytelling to story living:
Ben & Jerry’s, when the brand started they have been telling
their customers how and why it began as well as what it stands
for. Their moto was to “to make the world’s best ice cream, to
run a financially successful company, and to make the world a
better place”. Recently they have shown how they could make
the world a better place by:
• Backing a petition against Trump’s refugee policies,
• Making its own manufacturing facilities more energy
eﬃcient.
WHATBRANDCANDOTOSHOW
THEYCAREABOUTTHEIR
CUSTOMERS?
Embrace “Storyliving” Rather Than “Storytelling”

Airbnb like GoPro are using their customers content/
story. They value their customers stories and put
them at the centre of their marketing strategy by
putting their product/service in the context of real life.
This strategy has positive eﬀects:
• Increase the authenticity of the brand,
• Create a cycle of advocacy
WHATBRANDCANDOTOSHOW
THEYCAREABOUTTHEIR
CUSTOMERS?
Embrace “Storyliving” Rather Than “Storytelling”

WHYSHOULDYOUCAREABOUTYOURCONSUMEREMOTIONS?
In the days of man men, technology force branding to evolve from marketing a product or service
functional value to tapping into the emotional value and building a relationship with the consumer.
of emotionally connected consumers spend twice as much on brands they have an
emotional attachment to than those who do not.
70%

Apple is a great study case, they have a great value proposition
and emotion is at the centre of their marketing strategy. A
customer will buy a product from a specific brand because he
feels connected, and it can because he feels like he has values in
common. Customers want to know who is Apple and what are
they standing for, and the outcome is Apple did a great Job at
doing it.
Apple motto is: ‘Everything we do, we believe in challenging the
status quo. We believe in thinking diﬀerently. The way we
challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully
designed, simple to use and user friendly.’
People didn’t buy Apple because they liked that Apple “believed
people with passion can change the world”, people bought Apple
because they wanted to see themselves as one of those people
or they believed that they could also change the world.
STUDYCASE:APPLE

The future of marketing is driven by emotions

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to The future of marketing is driven by emotions

Similar to The future of marketing is driven by emotions (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

The future of marketing is driven by emotions