The Logic behind the Irrational Decision Making Process
It’s commonly said that, for the most part, humans are a rational species and base decisions on logical thinking. When it comes to buying products and services, though, logic many times takes a back seat to emotions. Initial decision-making thought processing involves the reptilian part of our brain – the part of the brain most concerned with basic necessities such as food, water, safety, pleasure and avoidance of pain.
That doesn’t mean that all rational thinking goes out the door. As a marketer, though, you’ll want to understand that convincing someone to buy has much more to do with appealing to their emotions than to their fact-based reasoning side.
One of the best ways to leverage emotional appeal in your marketing is to distinguish between features and benefits. Features are things, benefits are feelings. Although we, as consumers, are looking to buy “things”, we want to make sure we’re satisfying a more underlying need – the need for approval or prestige, acceptance, safety, value and well-being.
A great example of emotion-based selling is Disney’s approach to their theme parks. They do not market their theme parks as places with state-of-the-art rides – but instead promote these parks as a way as a magical place to build memories.
So, when you’re crafting your marketing, be sure that your primary selling points include emotion-power words such as: imagine, feel, safe, special, amazing and exclusive. And don’t forget to include an emotion packed tagline with your logo on all of your promotional products.
