Emotional appeal is a common manipulation technique in the marketing area. When people feel emotional after seeing a commercial, it means that there is an emotional appeal effect. Here, advertisers aim to control consumers' emotions and create sympathy with them. If a consumer thinks that this brand is good or special, the buying decision can turn positive quickly.
Sometimes just one emotion such as love can be the main manipulation method, but sometimes marketers can combine different kinds of emotions in the same campaigns. According to researchers, using a combination of emotions can make people more excited about taking action. Humans have seven main emotions. Those are anger, surprise, disgust, enjoyment, fear, sadness, and contempt. Those emotions are universal and expressions are the same for all of humanity.
Utilizing these emotions is effective on consumers because all humans share the same genetic codes related to emotions. For example, when a marketer presents a sad video, consumers tend to feel sadness, and if a marketer displays a happy video, they will experience happiness. To categorize emotions, we can divide them into three distinct categories: positive emotions, neutral emotions, and negative emotions. Positive emotions are happiness, neutral emotion is a surprise, and negative emotions are anger, sadness, disgust, and fear.
Negative emotions can create bigger effects on action and attention. Positive emotions can affect chemicals in the blood. Positive emotions can raise oxytocin and dopamine, and it is a good method to push consumers to take action. Also, humanity has mirror neurons. It means that if you show some emotion to consumers, because of mirror neurons they can create empathy feeling and they can create a stronger connection with the marketing campaign.
Of course, the usage of emotional appeal depends on the sector. If a campaign is for a Charity organization, starting with negative emotions and then showing positive emotions, like giving a solution to consumers it's a great strategy. But if we talk about e-commerce websites, mostly positivity can bring success, and combining emotional appeal with different manipulation methods can increase success more.
Why do Brands Need to Use Emotional Appeal?
Increasing Online Engagements
Raising Conversions (Purchase, Add to Cart, Subscription, Donate, etc.)
Raising Brand Loyalty and Advocacy
Brands should not forget one important detail. They are targeting humanity. They have emotions and feelings and they love to create connections. Success is related to what kind of emotions your customers feel for your brands. So, do not forget to put some love to your campaign.
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