How to Use Emotional Persuasion in eCommerce Marketing?

Emotional persuasion is one of the most powerful tools in marketing. People are moved by emotions so when you are able to find what they are it’s easy to persuade them into buying your products or services.

One of the most important characteristics that all human beings possess is their vulnerability to move out of fear, love, anger, etc. Emotions play a vital role in persuading someone into buying something because most people buy things not based on logic but with emotions. This article digs deeply into this topic and includes some specific examples from big companies like Apple who have used emotional persuasion to increase their revenue substantially.

What Is Emotional Persuasion?

The idea involved in emotional persuasion is quite simple; it tries to evoke an emotion within the person who is viewing the marketing material. This emotional arousal leads to an urge in them to purchase your product or service.

It works without much awareness but it must not be confused with manipulation because you are not forcing someone to do something against their will, what you are trying to do is elicit a response that will make them buy your product or services.

The reason why emotions work better than logic as a tool for persuading someone into buying something is because of physiological reasons. In simple words, “the body cannot lie”, making this technique very effective if used properly. For instance, research has shown that when individuals express positive emotions on their face the frequency of their heartbeats increases and they report being very happy even though they actually may feel sad.

The Use of Emotional Persuasion in Marketing and Why It Works

Because human beings can be easily manipulated by their emotions, they are constantly on the lookout for products that make them feel good or bad about themselves. These kinds of products are used as a way to communicate indirectly how people perceive them.

Competition is very high nowadays due to the fact that almost everyone has access to internet marketing tools which means that it’s easier than ever to promote your business or service globally. By using emotional persuasion you will be able to stand out from the rest because most companies use logic rather than emotion since it is much harder to implement effectively. The truth behind this technique is that it stimulates “feel-good chemicals” within the person’s brain which makes them feel good and want to purchase your product or service.

The Use of Emotional Persuasion in Marketing to Allure Women

Emotions play a vital role in the relationship between men and women so if you understand this dynamic you will be able to greatly improve your marketing strategies. Women fall for products that make them feel better about themselves and improve their social status. It’s well known that women like it when they receive compliments from other people especially when those compliments reference their physical appearance such as wearing a dress that looks great on them, etc.

It’s obvious that we are not living in a “Mad Men” era because even though there is still some truth to this statement not as much as before because both genders have started to merge in the workplace which means that women are making more money than ever before and they use it to buy products that will make them feel good about themselves.

Using Emotional Persuasion to Sell Apple Products

As you probably already know Apple is one of the richest companies in the world mainly because they know how to effectively use emotional persuasion when marketing their products. The first thing they do when someone walks into an apple store is make people believe that what they are wearing doesn’t match their personality, this gets people thinking “wow if only I had an apple product my life would be much better”. Apple’s slogan is “think different” which suggests that if you don’t have one of their products your life sucks.

They constantly show people that only those who have an iPhone or MacBook are cool and everyone else is a loser.

Powerful Emotional Hooks for Marketers

Emotional marketing frequently utilizes a single feeling to establish a relationship. The most powerful human emotions have the greatest potential for success. Let’s explore some powerful emotional hooks that marketers already use to get the attention of their target audience.

Fear

This is a very powerful hook that can drive sales fast. It’s a great way to create a sense of urgency and make people think, “I need it now!” Plenty of marketers use fear as an effective selling tactic because it’s much easier to generate sales from panic rather than logic.

Anxiety

This hook is very similar to fear except that anxiety makes people feel impatient and stressed out. If you’re not one to enjoy the feeling of being rushed, don’t market using this particular emotion because you won’t like how your audience feels either especially if they purchased something really expensive from you and paid for shipping.

Curiosity

Everyone wants to know what others think about them so this is one of the most frequently used hooks in marketing. Marketers will always try to get other people’s opinions about their product without mentioning it directly. Let’s say you have a fashion line, you could ask other people certain questions such as “Do you think the color of this shirt looks good on me?

Self-Interest

This hook is very prevalent in relationship marketing and we’re all guilty of using it because we want something from others even if we don’t care about them at all. If someone approached us and started talking to us with no reason whatsoever that person would definitely lose our interest eventually so marketers who use this technique must be very careful because they need to provide value to their audience by giving them something in return for what they are asking for, otherwise, the relationship will not develop.

Satisfaction & Gratification

Everyone loves to get something for free especially if they know it will benefit them, this is one of the most frequently used hooks in both offline and online marketing because people are always searching for ways to get ahead without having to work hard for it. This hook can be very powerful but there’s a catch… you have to give your audience exactly what they want without expecting anything in return and this is much easier said than done.

Love/Affection

People are always trying to find love and they’ll do anything to get it which is why this particular hook works so well. If you can make someone believe that they are loved or needed by your audience they’ll buy from you at any cost even if the product is completely overpriced.

Unity & Brotherhood

This hook is very similar to the “we’re all in this together” technique because it makes people feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves whether it be a community, family, club, etc., this sense of unity can be extremely powerful when marketing products. It might not seem like an important hook but once you realize how many communities there are on Facebook alone you start to understand its potential.

Scarcity

This is by far one of the most powerful emotional marketing techniques out there because it makes people feel like they need something so badly yet they won’t be able to have it any time soon. Marketers are always trying to convince people that whatever product or service they are selling is extremely limited in quantity so instead of waiting around for their audience to contact them, they should buy now even if it means spending more than they can afford.

Confidence

People love being around confident individuals and this particular hook can be used to “energize” your content, products, or services. As marketers we know how important it is for our messages to stand out from the crowd otherwise nobody will pay attention to us which is why we resort to this technique and try to convince our audience that what we’re selling is the only solution for their problems.

Anger

The easiest way to make your audience angry is by mentioning how others are better than you at something even if it’s not true. Anger drives people to purchase products or services they didn’t originally intend to because you made them feel like they were missing out on something big which is why this particular hook should be used with extreme caution.

Greed

This is another extremely effective hook that marketers use all the time to convince people that their content or services are better than everyone else’s. You can’t always tell your audience they should buy from you because it will benefit them but if you can prove that they’re getting a great deal at your expense then it might motivate them to do business with you.

Ego

People are always trying to convince others that they are better than everyone else which is why you can use this emotional marketing technique to your advantage by drawing attention to your authority, credibility, skills, etc., but be careful because if it backfires then people will start avoiding you altogether.

Conclusion

The real secret behind emotional marketing is to make sure you understand your target audience because if you don’t they’ll be able to sniff out all your “emotional manipulation” and stop buying from you completely.

The most important thing you should understand about emotional persuasion is that it’s not a new phenomenon because clever marketers have been using it for years but they also know when the best time to use this tool is in order to make more money, which means that if you want your company to be successful then you need to understand how the human psyche really works. If you do, then you will see an increase in sales as well as profits meaning that your business will be successful sooner rather than later.

Implementing emotional persuasion into your marketing campaign will definitely improve your results. If you want to be successful then you need to implement the ideas we’ve shared to see immediate results.

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