Karen Keller
Marketers have been using logic and emotion for years in selling their products and services. So how does this work? It’s all about the decision-making process. and the triggers that make a difference between yes or no. Sometimes these triggers can be impulses, or they are coupled with logic, or they relate to your emotions.
Emotion is when you buy based on what they desire to possess – not on what you think. Although your desires are present on a very deep level, you are still capable of feeling them and being aware of their existence. Emotions have a hard-fought impact on your buying decision.
Logic is how you use your mind to justify what you want. For instance, I am buying this car because it gets good gas mileage and has a terrific warranty (logic). I am buying this car because I look really good in red, and my hair looks brilliant with the top down (emotion).
Once you become aware of how this works, you can use these concepts to better transform prospective buyers into "sold" customers every time. Even though your product or service is of the highest quality, it’s your capability of using your emotion/logic knowledge to position your offering in a way that creates a strong desire to buy.
This is a practice known by big companies like Zappos, eBay, and Google, to name a few. They have mastered the art of composing their messages to potential customers in a language that they will understand. Customers want personalized messages that are relevant and important to them. And this is where knowing what your customers’ desires are is key. It goes back to the old sales and marketing rule: know your audience!
Once you know what you customers feel strongly about, what they feel they deserve, what they feel they should have, only then will you be able to put in front of them a message that speaks to that emotion. You can push these emotional hot buttons in every message you send in your newsletters, post on your site and brochures, and so on.
So, ask yourself this – are you marketing to your potential customers’ hearts/emotions or to their minds? Ultimately you will need to do both, but first you start with marketing to their hearts. Once you have won their hearts over the rest is easy, assuming you understand how to position your product, and it’s a good product to begin with.
Here’s the cycle, or psychology, of how all this happens:
- Benefits appeal to Emotions
- Features appeal to Logic
- Logic justifies Emotion
- Emotion drives Sales
