39% of shoppers make emotional purchases (study CDEK). The most frequent spontaneous spending includes sweets, clothes, going to restaurants, books. “According to our experience, most often people make spontaneous purchases on sales days and holidays – on New Year’s Eve, on Black Friday, March 8, February 23, Shopping Days,” says the company’s marketing director MediaNation Marina Shakhova. “Pro Business” learned from an expert how to grab the attention of a buyer online and inspire him to buy using emotional marketing techniques.
Director of Marketing at MediaNation
Why Companies Choose Emotional Marketing
There are several reasons for choosing emotional marketing:
- People don’t buy a product, they buy a lifestyle, a dream, belonging to a privileged group. Emotions allow you to increase loyalty at a deep level.
- This is a competitive advantage. Dozens or even hundreds of companies offer almost identical products with similar characteristics. Those who are able to evoke a positive emotional response will be able to attract a new client.
- Emotional Marketing Transfers the Brand and a client from a commercial relationship into more personal, human.
- Emotions affect decision making. A person can spend hours comparing different options and looking for the same product. But if the brand resonates with him, his values or the company offers tangible benefits, then the path to purchase is accelerated at times.
Agency experience
Emotional marketing works in b2b too. We at MediaNation conducted a study that showed that clients choose agencies under the influence of emotions. There are many similar marketing agencies on the market. But how to find “the one”, the heart will tell. To make the match happen as soon as possible, show the team, common values, expertise, corporate culture, and traditions. You can report on social networks, blog and other company sites. Remember: people buy from people. Get closer to the audience, show that you have a lot in common and you can be trusted.
Emotional marketing brought a major pizza chain brand to our agency. It all started with the post of our CEO in the social network. Ivan Barchenkov posted a photo with a piece of paper on which was written “I love pizza. I advertise well. I want to promote Papa Johns.” The photo went viral, it was noticed in Papa Johns. The emotional message stood out from the boring sales pitches and hit the heart of the marketing director of the pizza brand.
The story of working with the client continues to this day: we launched ads with bloggers, developed a series of landing pages with promotions, and ran video campaigns on YouTube. We helped the brand double its sales and expanded its agency expertise.
Emotional Range
Negative emotions narrow the attention of a potential client. If a person has difficulty navigating the site, they will pay less attention to the products and most likely leave the site with nothing.
Positive emotions, on the contrary, expand the range of attention. Pleasant colors of creatives, an unobtrusive game of involvement immerse the user in virtual shopping.
What other emotions are there?
- Integral: arise when a consumer makes a decision, such as satisfaction with a purchase. The formation of a community of people who are passionate about one thing works well here. For example, the community of gamers who have a Playstation – you can share exclusive releases and news, free games, insider information with them. Potential customers will be more motivated to buy the product and become part of the community.
- situational: arise from external circumstances. So, you can catch the most favorable mood of buyers using weather targeting. In bad weather, we are more sad, but on a sunny day we rejoice and are set for shopping. Promotions work well on holidays – these days people most often make emotional purchases.
- Random – the mood of a person. Most often they influence making spontaneous purchases that bring immediate benefits. Getting into the right mood is harder. Search queries of users will come to the aid of marketers. If a person searches for “how to learn to draw,” then you can offer him an online sketching course with a call to stop procrastinating and learn how to sketch with a pencil right now.
Which emotion to choose for advertising
Emotions help push the audience to the target action. Choose not the basic emotions (happiness, sadness, anger) that most companies use, but their shades – provocative, creative, daring. So the positioning of your product will be unique. The Wheel of Emotions by Robert Plutchik will help you:
How to use the circle of emotions:
- Find the problem your customers are facing. What do they feel? Irritation, indignation, weakness, frustration?
- Think about how they would like to feel. For example, not disappointed in the services of lawyers, but surprised by the quick resolution of problems.
- Use this emotion in advertising, show what life can be like with your product.
So, in the promotion of Beaphar pet products, we revealed the fear of pet owners – the animal can pick up parasites in the spring season. In advertising creatives, they emphasized the feelings of care, love and responsibility – you need to have time to take care of the health of animals in the dangerous season of ticks and parasites.
One step from emotion to purchase
Here are a few tricks you can use to shorten the time it takes to make a purchase decision:
1. Focus on missed opportunities (FOMO). For categories of emotional goods – shoes, cosmetics, entertainment – enter promotions with a time limit, for example, a sale only on a certain day. Emphasize the limited nature of the product – “there are two left in stock.”
2. Add an emotional call to action, use triggers. Do not leave the user indifferent.
3. Use a cross-sell. Invite the customer to add nice little things to the cart. Show concern: tell what other goods will be useful to the buyer.
4. Add express shipping. An emotionally charged buyer wants to get the desired product here and now. Shorten the path of the goods to the buyer – this can become your competitive advantage.
5. Inspire the user. People no longer purposefully go to online stores – they are waiting for hints on what to buy. Suggest options for a Sunday getaway or an idea for a festive look. The user will be grateful that he does not have to waste time choosing a product.
6. Connect targeted advertising. The user is relaxing in social networks and most likely will make a purchase.
Sale days and holidays are the most emotional
On sale days, the shopper is driven by the desire to get an instant benefit. He is the most willing to buy. The statistics of one of our clients in the footwear niche showed that the coefficient of making a transaction on day zero, when a person first entered the site, grows on holidays. So, in November, when Black Friday and Shopping Days take place, the coefficient was equal to 0.49% compared to 0.32% a month earlier. And the share of visitors who made a purchase a day after visiting the site increased from 1.12% to 1.83%.
We recommend strengthening retargeting during the event period. The transaction cycle is shortened on holidays, so you need to make sure that there is enough budget for this tool, and the system places ads on suitable sites.
When all rational tasks are completed, move on to a higher level of communication. Create an emotional connection with a potential buyer. Use creative tools, emotional marketing and unconventional ways to reach the buyer’s heart.
