The Role of Emotion in Purchasing Decisions

With all the marketing tools available to businesses, it’s easy to overlook one essential factor: emotional connection. We all remember things that make us feel happy or secure, so it’s no surprise that emotions play a role in?customer purchasing decisions.?Easy User Test provides valuable insights into customer emotions in the customer’s everyday environment.

Emotional Engagement Affects Purchasing Decisions

Data shows that emotional engagement drives a potential customer’s purchasing decisions. A?Harvard Business Review ?report states that an emotion-based customer experience strategy improves financial outcomes for a business. For example, the report noted that the?strategy resulted in a 15 percent increase in active customers and a more than 50 percent increase in store growth for a major clothing retailer.

According to a study by?the?Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Glasgow , people have four basic emotions: happy, sad, fear/surprise and disgust/anger. Customers will remember and recognize your brand based on the way it makes them feel. The key task is to discover the emotional motivators for your target audience, and then develop a marketing strategy with a focus on emotional connections.

Emotional Motivators

Researchers at the?Harvard Business Review ?discovered that emotional motivators significantly affect customer behavior. Some of these motivators include:

• Stand out from the crowd
• Feel a sense of freedom
• Feel a sense of thrill
• Feel a sense of belonging
• Feel secure

So how do you know what emotional motivators apply to your potential customers? First, you must find the type of customer emotions that apply to your audience and find a way to connect with those emotions. For example, a rideshare company fills the need to feel safe while riding in a car. The emotional motivator in this case would be security. To connect with this motivator, the company designs a safety-first app that includes video surveillance and a panic button.

Research How Users Make Decisions

There is no substitute for research when it comes to developing emotional connections with your brand. A variety of tools are available to help you discover emotional motivators for your audience.

• A/B testing — multiple versions of the same webpage are shown to different user groups to determine impact
• Content testing — tests the effectiveness of keywords, tone, images, call-to-actions and other content variables
• Message testing — analyzes the impact of various types of marketing messages
• User testing — analyzes user behavior, and identifies problems and possible improvements
• Analytics — collects, measures and analyzes website data such as page views and clickthrough rates
• Focus panel — measures users’ feelings and perceptions about a product or service

User Validation in a Natural Environment

Now imagine being able to test emotional connections in a user’s natural environment. You can use remote testing that the user can complete in their own home rather than in a lab setting. In a relaxed environment, the user answers questions to give insight into subconscious buying decisions. You can also use Easy User Test results with other tools to learn about the emotions and buying behaviors of your target audience.

Contact us today and learn how User Testing can provide insight into your brand.