Following a recent study, it’s been discovered that people are exposed to around 5,000 ads per day. With such a quantity of inputs, it’s foreseeable that our brain cannot remember all the stimuli received; In point of fact, it’s been analyzed that humans remember the 5% of what they see, 2% of what they ear, 15% of what they feel and 35% of what they smell.
So what makes us remembering some advert respect to others? In which way is our mind influenced to retain some memories and forget others?
A profound relevance in the memorization process has been attributed to emotions. Actually, there is strong proof that sensation enhances memory. In that sense, emotional marketing is the kind of marketing approach that focuses on creating emotions in users, with the belief that the perception of positive feelings in consumers causes an increase in memory retention associated with the brand. As stated in the 5 modules of Experiential Marketing according to Schmitt these are the 5 elements that should exist before purchase and during consumption, to identify the one that best suits the objective of your business.
1- Perceptions, connected to sensors.
2- Feelings, associated to emotions.
3- Thoughts, connected to thinking.
4- Actions, related to behaviors.
5-Relationship, correlated to interactions.
If well delivered an emotional marketing campaign that integrates the combinations of these elements will drive the user from discovering our brand to be a loyal customer. In fact, it’s been proven that the application of emotional marketing strategies can increase the user’s identification with the brand, brand differentiation, recommendation and engagement.
Through the implementation of a marketing strategy that will focus on one of the five senses, or more of them between (Visual, Olfactory, Auditory, Tactile, Gustative) you can be sure to increase the customer’s interaction with the brand and to first generate a feeling in the latter, which will provoke a sensation and then generate a thought that will develop into action and end up in a social relationship.
That’s the magic of Emotional Marketing! 🧙♂️
Great Example of Emotional Marketing Campaign. - Emotional Message: Good causes: "We give back to society part of what we receive"
As we know we are human because we are driven by emotions, and we can now be sure that as humans we tend to better remember what makes us experience emotions.
At this point, we could ask different questions to ourselves… 🤔 For example 👇
A- What is the biological drive that influences the consumer’s purchase decision?
B- In the face of the so-called “negative” emotions, what is the customer’s reaction?
C- What relationship does the price of a product have on generating customer emotions?
D- What does it mean to buy with the senses?
Let’s answer these questions one by one!
- What is the biological drive that influences the consumer’s purchase decision?
To give an exhaustive answer to this question, the author of the article, Xavier Borras Llebaria underlines how there is a growing need to offer the customer a positive and special experience, increasingly personalized to the subjective needs of each person; and obviously, the main role is played by the physical store that still provides the most complete experience from the sensory point of view for the consumer.
In this sense, the author indicates several factors that stimulate the biological impulses that favour the consumer’s shopping experience. And these are:
A showcase that awakens emotions and invites you to enter.
The brain prefers order to chaos, so it is essential to prioritize the proposed offers.
Store atmosphere, Decoration according to the target audience.
The environment should excite and make the customer feel at ease.
Attract customers with messages that activate your instinctive system, such as: Discounts, Promotions, Gifts.
These increase the level of arousal, as they register first in the emotional hemisphere.
Show attractive images, prices and contrasts in the promotions of the products offered.
Anything that has a strong visual impact generates interest in the brain.
Present multiple options, but within a limited number showing products that are easily comparable and eliminating those that are not.
The brain struggles with too many similar options; therefore, it is better to favour your choice with different and limited offers.
Put music in line with the identity of the brand.
Music helps to live new experiences.
Adopt a perfume in the store that distinguishes the perception of the brand.
Perfumes remain in the memory longer than any other sensation, so providing a particular smell to the store could be decisive to distinguish the identity of the brand.
Provide a free trial, product testers.
The human being fully learns 80% of what he feels, therefore, offering product tests is decisive.
Sellers need to be empathetic and understanding to make the customer feel comfortable and provide the best shopping experience.
Sellers are a crucial part of the buying/selling process, they have a fundamental task in making the customer feel 100% satisfied.
- In the face of so-called “negative” emotions, what is the customer’s reaction?
Negative feelings can lead the customer to a form of psychological distress that can lead to a sudden refusal to buy the product.
For this reason, it is vital to keep the client comfortable and to respect him emotionally.
The seller has a direct influence to convince people and his happy and complacent attitude can be decisive in the customer’s purchase decision.
On the other hand, a rude, unsympathetic or bad-tempered salesperson can lead the customer to experience so-called negative emotions.
- What relationship does the price of a product have on generating customer emotions?
The price when it is displayed in an attractive way and with a strong visual impact generates interest and attracts the attention of the brain; in addition, the prices with a strong contrast favour the purchase decision, since they determine a quick profit in the mind of the consumer.
- What does it mean to buy with the senses?
It means living a shopping experience that pleases all the senses of the human hemisphere:
Sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.
Today, the strong positioning of a brand in the mind of the customer increasingly passes from a sensorily complete shopping experience that concerns all the senses.
Great example of an emotional marketing campaign that uses the sense of smell.
Now let’s go ahead and analyze some application of emotional marketing in everyday life 👇
- Social validation. Being part of a group.
- Logic Concepts. Explain demonstrable facts with statistics and data.
- Storytelling. Tell a true story.
- Authenticity. Let them know that “you are real.”
- Scarcity. The application of FOMO (Fear of Missing out).
- Group prices. Product with accessories: they seem cheaper.
- Products combination and order. Always associates products with different characteristics.
- Few options are better than many. Better don’t show too many options.
- You are the important thing. Appeal to the “You” in the story you explain.
- Feeling in debt. If you ask, then you give a reward.
Read more about Brand Identity through this guide 👉 “How to Develop a Unique Brand Identity In 2021”
So we have sawn how emotions are playing a major role during retention of our Brand/Campaign in the user’s memory. We have also shown some practical example and application; we would like now to underline when an experience is considerate relevant, which are the components that determine this?
First of all, the client should always be in the centre.
We need to think about which desire and feelings are we going to touch with our campaign; in which way our product/service will help us to achieve this objective.
Second, keep it simple!
Simplicity is often underestimated, let’s not try to create complex tricks, the risk is to confuse the customer’s and lose him.
Then fix a specific Target. Emotional Marketing campaign tends to be tailor-made respect to the type of user; As often, perceptions of women, men, children and old people are different.
Ultimately define the mission, the type of communication and the message. Our campaign Goal should be clear as also our message and type of communication. We need to send out a specific message that should resonate through our words.
Gaining a space in the client’s memory will always be more and more complex. To do that we can not hide the role played by the emotions in our marketing approach. Also, as a big consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, people will increasingly opt for trustable and ethic brands. The companies that manage to make them feel safe, valid and important will be successful in the coming years and will not disappear into memory oblivion.
People don’t buy for rational reasons they buy for emotional reasons!
-Zig Ziglar
