The Ad Made Me Do It: How Emotions Drive Online Spending
Humans are emotional beings. This is especially true when it comes to online shopping. Online retailers are increasingly aware of the role that emotion plays in online spending, and the savviest among them are beginning to employ science-based strategies to help consumers find their way to the checkout button. With an emotionally intelligent marketing strategy, any e-commerce business can better connect with its customers and increase its bottom line
Science Knows Best
A video shows a little girl hugging a puppy. The consumer feels happy, and their left prefrontal cortex lights up. A sale is made. While the scenario may not always be quite that cut and dry, science shows that it's pretty darn close. If an online retailer covers their site with the wrong type of content or visuals, consumers are likely to feel cautious or even fearful about making a purchase. And just like that, the right prefrontal cortex lights up and millions of years of evolution tell the consumer to take their money elsewhere.
Emotions That Click
If a brand can make a consumer feel a sense of belonging, shared values or, better yet, trust, the battle is all but won, because these are the emotions ones most likely to make someone feel the urge to open their wallet. Unique products, strong brand recognition and an engaging social media presence can go a long way towards making consumers feel like they belong to a community. Likewise, appealing to a consumer's personal beliefs by making the brand's message loud and clear can create customer loyalty and also help establish trust - arguably the most important emotion of all.
When the Time (and Place) Is Right
But it's not enough to just make consumers feel. It has to be done at the just the right time and in just the right setting. The now-infamous Pepsi commercial is an excellent example of what not to do. Emotion-based AI can provide retailers with the insights they need to know what type of emotion a sentence, picture or product is making consumers feel, as well as when and where they are feeling it. Quantifying emotion means smarter more effective marketing and, of course, more sales.
Emotions drive our everyday interactions and online shopping is now part of our day-to-day lives. I think it makes a lot of sense for retailers to tap into human emotion. Shoppers get what they actually want (goodbye buyer's remorse) and online retailers get what they really want — marketing that actually works.
