Facts vs. emotion: which performs better?

Emotional appeal vs. rational argument. Which one wins the day in marketing?

If you guessed the former, you’re right.

Data analysis shows that campaigns that focus on emotions earn nearly double the profits of those that rely on rationality alone.

I’ve long been a believer in the power of empathy, emotion, and choosing our marketing language with care. So when I saw Acrolinx talking about writing with feeling, my gut said hell, yes. And it seemed like a good time to toss my two cents into this particular wishing well.

Because emotions are now and always have been vital to good marketing. And any agency that tells you otherwise isn’t worth the paper they print their contracts on.

But you don’t have to take my word for it. Studies and (yes, indeed) logic back me up.

Decisions are emotional (even business decisions)

Studies show that emotions are an essential part of decision-making. And I don’t just mean they matter. I mean that people with damage to the emotional part of their brain quite literally can’t make decisions.

In the aforementioned study, neurologists found that people with heavy damage to the emotional centers of the brain became incapable of pulling the proverbial trigger on even the smallest decisions. Because no matter how many pro and con lists you make, the final push to make the decision comes from an emotional place...

In other words: You don’t just know what the best choice is for you—you feel it. 

That goes for political decisions. It goes for personal decisions. And it also goes for business decisions. It impacts B2C companies, and it matters just as much for B2B. In fact, a Google study found that B2B customers are more emotionally connected to their decisions than B2C.

Even logic relies on emotion

But Robin, you might be thinking, my decisions are logical. Especially my business decisions. So, aren’t there more people like me?

And you’re obviously right; we do rely on some logic in our decision-making processes. If we’re shopping for a Content Management Platform, we’re not going to go off the rails and buy a toaster oven or a My Little Pony instead because its marketing was more emotionally compelling.

In other words, nobody’s so off-kilter that they’re making big decisions without any logical consideration. (Okay, maybe not nobody. Most of us have that friend. But mostly nobody.)

So, do pro-con lists play their part? Do you still have to communicate features? Do technical details still matter in B2B decision-making? Of course they do. But all that logic is also processed emotionally. Those facts make us feel things. Security. Relief. Confidence. Joy. Desire. 

Harnessing the power of emotion

Whole books could be (and have been) written on the topic of how to harness that emotional decision-making. But hard-fought marketing wisdom tells us it boils down to three core things:

1. Communicating the deeper value of what you’re selling—the why behind what you are offering.

Harley Davidson doesn’t just build motorcycles. They sell adventure. At Catalyst, we don’t just write brochures and build websites. We help you look like a hero to your teams, your bosses, and your customers. Those are emotional wins; they’re the real reason people buy.

2. Understanding your customers.

You can’t reach people emotionally if you don’t know who they are and what matters to them. What are they worried about? What do they need? What emotional state are they in now, and what emotional state can your product take them to?

Emotional marketing looks different for adventure-seeking Boomers than it looks for socially conscious Gen Z. Small business owners often care about different things than corporate CTOs. Emotional marketing isn’t one-size-fits-all, and the companies that really hit it out of the park get that.

3. Creating emotionally intelligent content.

Emotionally intelligent content cares about whom you’re serving and the why behind what you do. It also cares about the real-time context you’re working with.

If a customer is frustrated and then goes to your help page, emotionally intelligent content understands it’s not the time for jokes—even if your brand is rather jovial.

If the public is outraged over a sexist ad, emotionally intelligent content speaks to the heart of that outrage.

If there’s a pandemic going on, emotionally intelligent content reacts accordingly.

In other words, the same emotional intelligence you use in day-to-day life to react differently to a friend who just got a promotion and a friend who just lost their beloved pet has an important role in your marketing and online communications.

Need some help harnessing the emotional power of your marketing? We’d love to help. Reach out anytime.