Appeal to the Heart

Findings from Columbia University, University of California-San Diego, and Duke University indicate that each of the following techniques makes it more likely a customer will continue to favor the same product alternative on successive shopping trips:

• Show the shopper an enticing picture of the product instead of giving him an enticing product description to read.
• Show a color picture of the product instead of a black-and-white picture.
• Say to the shopper, “In making your choice, I recommend you trust those pleasant and unpleasant feelings you’re telling me you’re experiencing,” instead of, “In making your choice, I recommend you trust the reasons you’re telling me for you selecting or not selecting each available alternative.”
• Present pricing information and technical details about each choice in a format difficult for the busy shopper to remember.
• Emphasize the exciting aspects of each of the choices.

     What do these techniques have in common? The researchers reply that all five appeal to the heart more than the brain. They target the emotions, and purchases made for emotional reasons tend to be consistent.
     People are more likely to stay highly satisfied about their purchases if they either experienced a burst of joy or a rush of relief at the time of the purchase. In fact, the overall emotion is often more important than the shopper’s objective evaluation of the product’s features.
     A substantial percentage of consumers chose an item because they had the right feelings about it, not because the item came out best in any mental accounting of advantages and disadvantages. People who let themselves be led by their emotions, compared to those customers who do not, express more satisfaction with their purchase afterwards. These shoppers would keep their preferences and satisfaction even if they’d been told an article in Consumer Reports would have ranked their selection as less desirable than available alternatives.
     Here’s a caution, though: Shoppers are different. Never keep dumping emotions onto a customer who seems to be getting uncomfortable when you try it out. Research at Universidad Pùblica de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain concludes that for certain shoppers in the world, emotion sells, but for others, it’s a turnoff. How to tell which is which? Monitor the extent to which your shoppers use emotion words themselves.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more:
Emphasize Emotions with Older Consumers
Know How Much Emotion to Deliver
Show Customers the Right Picture