Imagine this: a guy is sitting alone on his couch, watching silly videos on a free streaming site, when all of a sudden his show is interrupted by a video of a mouthwatering Quarter Pounder burger from McDonald’s. He sees the juicy patty and the melted cheese and gets so enticed he clicks on the Buy Now button.
His order arrives in a few minutes and he immediately dives into the paper bag. He doesn’t really feel hungry at all, dinner is supposed to be in three hours, but he takes a big bite and thinks, “yes, that’s exactly how I imagined it!”
He doesn’t necessarily need to eat right now, but he went ahead and purchased anyway. That is an example of an emotional purchase. But big brands are not the only ones who can tap into a buyer’s subconscious motivation to convince them to purchase. You can do that, too. Let’s discuss how.
First, you must understand that instincts do not equate to needs. Rather, instincts push humans to have a need. For instance, shivering due to the cold weather is instinct, which gives the person the need to feel warm, and therefore a motivation to purchase clothing.
In a previous article, we discussed how an offer’s benefits matter more to the consumer than features. The main driving force behind this theory is that people’s purchase decisions mostly rely on emotions.
How can a product help me?
How can I improve my life?
How can I cure my feeling of being left out?
These are just some of the questions that we unconsciously go through when deciding to make a purchase. In the case of the guy who watched the burger commercial, the question answered is, “how can I satisfy the craving that I am feeling right now?” Obviously, the answer was to buy the burger!
Before you master your customer’s buying motivations, you must first understand the standard customer buying journey, because as they always say, you have to learn the rules before you break them.
So in this article, we will talk about the following:
A Customer’s Purchase Decision Process
What is a Rational Purchase?
What is an Emotional Purchase?
What Affects Buying Motivations?
Are You Buying Rationally or Emotionally
Examples on How to Utilize Emotions for Virtually Any Purchase Decision
A Customer’s Purchase Decision Process
The purchase decision process is essentially the stages that the customer goes through before he completes a purchase, as well as what happens after the transaction.
It comes in many terms. Some call it the purchasing cycle, buyer journey, or buyer funnel. The process comes in five stages (most of the time). These are:
1. Need Recognition
As the name itself suggests, this is when the person realizes that there is a need that he must satisfy. It doesn’t matter if it is a real need, or just a perceived one.
A consumer becomes aware of this need based on two types of stimulants:
- Internal trigger - this comes from physiological signals from the body such as hunger, cold, pain and thirst, and emotional signals such as loneliness or envy. When you feel hungry, you would look for something to eat to satisfy this need. When you feel lonely, you would seek companionship through social media or physical meetups.
- External trigger - this is an outside event that influences your physiological or emotional needs. For instance, you don’t really feel hungry, but when you see a video of your favorite food, you suddenly feel your mouth watering. This is where advertisements come into play.
2. Information Search
Once you’ve recognized that there’s a need, the next step is to search for information. When doing so, the consumer aims for any of the following things to be answered:
- How can he satisfy the need;
- What product or service can he use;
- When can he take hold of the solution to his need;
- Who provides the product or service;
- Where can he find the product or service?
Sometimes, the person refers back to memory for information. If he cannot find the answer based on what he knows, he then refers to external sources of information by asking his peers, scrolling through social media, and of course, researching through search engines.
3. Consideration
During the course of his research, the consumer realizes that there are several ways to satisfy his needs. One alternative may also present different brands or providers to choose from.
This is the time when the consumer needs to weigh in on the advantages and disadvantages of going for one product, as well as the benefits and features that the product (or service) presents.
The person evaluates the alternatives based on rational and emotional reasons.
4. Conversion or Purchase Decision
The user has finally narrowed down his options and chose one winning offer. This is the time when he proceeds with the purchase, or what we marketers call conversion.
Once the customer has decided, there is very little that can sway him, except of course if you make it hard for him to proceed with the purchase.
The usual reasons for cart abandonment are:
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Excessive steps needed to be taken to make the purchase
This includes too many fields to be filled out, too many pages to go through (checkout page, billing page, shipping page, payment page, etc).
Make it easier for the customer by minimizing the number of fields and pages, and preventing duplicate forms. For instance, provide the option to mark the billing and shipping address as one and the same so that the customer would not need to provide the same information.
If you need to upsell, make sure to use One-Click Upsells so that you’ll get better purchase value with minimal friction.
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Very little payment options
Providing several options for your buyer to complete the purchase is best to ensure that they will be able to choose at least one.
If you only provide one payment option, like for example if you accept just Visa and Mastercard credit cards, then you may miss out on customers who want to pay via American Express cards or PayPal.
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The high cost of fulfillment
This is one of the biggest obstacles to conversion. The high cost of shipping can make the buyer feel like he has been duped. It would be best to include the shipping cost in your product price, or you can discuss the cost of shipping on the product page so that the customer will not be surprised at the charge.
Some companies provide free shipping options with a minimum purchase amount. This not only improves the average sale of the company but also improves the purchasing experience.
5. Post-Purchase Evaluation
The customer has proceeded with the purchase and is now in possession of the product or has already used the service. Now is the time for him to evaluate the result of his action.
Does he like the product?
Did it fulfill its promise?
Is he satisfied with his purchase?
There are two ways for which this evaluation can go about: satisfaction and dissatisfaction. This is where he may experience Cognitive Dissonance if there is a disconnect between his expectations and actual experience.
If the customer is satisfied, he will consider the product or service again in the future in case he encounters the same need again. If he is very satisfied, he might even recommend the product to his peers or to the public (with the help of a review).
If his experience is unsatisfactory, he will not feel good about himself and would need to express this feeling of resentment by rating the product as one star in a review or posting his discontent on social media. This is called Buyer’s Remorse.
Here is an infographic of the whole buyer purchasing process.
Now typically, if you want to encourage the consumer to establish a connection with you or to proceed with the purchase, you will integrate the consumer buying process into your marketing funnel.
A marketing funnel allows you to deliver the right advertising message to your customer at the right time and based on his previous actions. Check out our in-depth guide on what a marketing funnel is and how to create one.
What is a Rational Purchase?
In reality, all purchases have some level of emotion attached to them. The difference between emotional purchases and rational purchases is the amount of emotion or rationality placed on it.
If a purchase decision is heavily backed by logic, research, and evaluation, then it is a rational purchase.
A rational purchase follows the consumer’s purchase decision process strictly. The consumer goes through all the stages of strict adherence. Some services and products fall under rational purchases by default because of the care that one needs to make when choosing a provider or a brand for their specific needs.
Motives that Require Logic and Rationality
Here are some objectives that will typically fall under rational purchasing. But keep in mind that skilled advertisers know how to trigger a person’s emotions to make supposedly rational purchases into emotional ones.
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Health
This is a serious matter and should therefore be addressed seriously. We only have one life, which is why when it comes to matters related to health, we would rather not decide haphazardly. Products and services that fall under this category include health insurance and choice of hospitals or care providers.
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Investments
If it involves a lot of money (based on your capacity), then it will usually be a rational purchase. Even people who don’t know how to budget think twice when they see a price that is beyond their means.
If they intend to buy such an item, they will typically read more about the product, look for reviews on the service, search for a warranty, or possibly inquire about a money-back guarantee. Some would even go as far as reading the fine print (who reads those things? Extremely cautious individuals do.)
If possible, a consumer would seek the assistance of an expert in the field or someone they trust. They also search for other alternatives to see if they can get a better deal elsewhere.
Some examples of products that fall under this category are real estate, financial services, and digital currencies (Bitcoin and Ethereum). Take note that expensive purchases do not automatically fall under investments; some fall under luxury, which is an emotional purchase.
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Security
Much like health, one’s security should not be taken lightly. Even if security plays on emotion, which is the fear of losing something, a person seeking security will not base his choices on feelings. He will likely choose properly based on the alternatives presented to him and would seek advice on what best to use.
For instance, if a guy is looking for a replacement padlock for his outdoor shed filled with his prized tools, he will likely ask a hardware representative about which padlock is the strongest and most durable. He will then weigh his options based on the features and benefits, against the price.
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Utility
These are things that we don’t care much about even though we need them. You don’t attach much emotion to them because you don’t have an attachment to them.
For instance, you are building a DIY wooden table. There is a need for you to buy nails to attach the parts together. Is there any emotion attached to buying nails? If you are a carpenter and this is your life’s work, then it would matter.
But if not, you will simply look into the type and size of the nail that you need, check for additional features (rust-proof, steel, or cast iron material), choose based on the price and/or quality, then make a purchase without so much as a second thought.
What is an Emotional Purchase?
There’s no need to explain this concept, but let us dig deeper into what it means for marketing.
An emotional purchase means the transaction is ruled by feelings.
Sometimes, there is a reason or rationale behind the purchase, but if the main driving force is the emotion of the consumer, then it is an emotional purchase.
All purchase decisions are backed by emotions, either majority or in part.
This means that no matter how hard we try to be logical, our emotions sneak in and influence our decisions without us realizing it.
Conversely, emotional purchases can also be rational, meaning even if the motivation is rooted in feelings, the process that the consumer went through is logical.
For instance, a customer may have an intense desire to subscribe to a video-on-demand service in order to watch a specific movie. However, he does not want to subscribe immediately to the first one he saw because he worries that he will not get the bang for his buck.
He will then go through the motions of researching whether the VOD service also includes other shows he is interested in. He may even search for alternatives to the platform. Once he confirms that this is the right choice, that is the time when he will proceed with the purchase.
In short, if the consumer followed the normal purchasing process, then the emotional purchase is also a rational one.
Feelings that Affect Emotional Purchases
When emotion is your main driving force, then the objective is for that emotion to either be stopped or fulfilled. Virtually any emotion can affect a purchase. However, when it comes to marketing, there are certain emotions that advertisers can leverage.
These are:
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Envy
This is the most common emotion that advertisers leverage. It is based on the intrinsic characteristics of humans to compare ourselves with others.
There is a negative connotation to this emotion because, first off, it is included in the list of seven deadly sins. However, no matter how hard you suppress it, it crops up from time to time.
What do they have that I don’t?
Are they happier than I am?
This emotion is the one that typically leads to impulse purchases, which we shall discuss later.
Envy is the root of the “Keeping up with the Joneses” attitude.
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Sentiment or Love
Many irrational purchases are made out of love or sentiment. The buyer assumes that when he buys this item that expresses his love, the recipient will understand his message without so many words.
We say it is an irrational purchase because there is not much benefit to the purchase except to display sentiment. It does not alleviate hunger, provide warmth or shelter, or anything else necessary for survival.
Buying jewelry for your loved one, or buying a camera for someone else so he/she can document important events in their lives fall under this category.
Another great example would be Hallmark Greeting Cards. There is no real value to this product except to show you care during celebrations such as birthdays, anniversaries, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and most especially Valentine’s Day. People still buy them to this day.
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Pride
Having an edge over other people or positioning yourself as being better is one of the main drivers of emotional purchases.
Many people feel like possessing specific items can give them a certain sense of prestige. This is true for expensive items such as diamonds, luxury bags, and race cars. A particular brand that comes to mind is Apple.
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Imitation
This is the main driving force of brands that use celebrities in their commercials. They are borrowing from the prestige of celebrities so that people will associate the brand with the celebrity. And fans like following the footsteps of celebrities. If your idol uses a particular brand of perfume, you would want to use that perfume as well.
People like imitating people they look up to because it gives them a feeling that they are becoming closer to that person, or at the very least, they are being brought to the same level.
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Fear
There are several types of fears that marketers can play around with when using this emotion to stimulate purchase. It could be:
- The fear of missing out - others are doing it but he is being left behind. Being part of a group and doing what they do is part of our survival instincts.
- The fear of loss - nobody wants to lose something important to them, may it be a loved one, a valuable possession, or even something as simple as a discount!
Remember the flash sales and countdowns in product pages? That’s your fear of losing something that the Principle of Urgency is playing into.
The fear of losing something makes a bigger impact than the prospect of gaining something.
- The fear of getting hurt - whoever wants to be hurt? (Unless you’re a masochist, in which case, there’s a different marketing strategy for you). Advertisers play into this fear by showing what can potentially happen, and then saying there is a way to prevent it from happening.
This is how brands that sell protective gear for sports market their products. Don’t want scraped knees that will bleed and eventually ooze with pus? Get a knee pad.
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Pleasure
We all want to be happy and satisfied with our lives. In order to achieve this goal, we buy items or subscribe to services that promise pleasure.
Products that fall under this category are those that are related to:
- Entertainment - music, films, literature, sports, and similar recreational stuff.
- Food - cakes, ice cream, pizza, or virtually any food. Going back to our original example of McDonald’s burger. Seeing a person bite into a cheesy and meaty burger while looking extremely satisfied with the taste makes the watcher feel like it is something he wants to experience as well.
- Sex - this includes dating sites, male enhancement products, and porn sites.
What are Impulse Buys?
Impulse purchases rely on both emotion and urgency. These two factors push a person to purchase right now. In reality, there is no urgent need for products that fall under impulse buys because the need established here are just perceived needs. You were merely influenced by what you’ve seen.
It is an extreme version of emotional purchase that is used by marketing experts on a day to day basis. It relies on people’s tendency for instant gratification.
Impulse buys do not follow the normal stages of the buying process; instead, it skips the Consideration stage. Sometimes, even the Information Search stage is ignored, and both stages are replaced with a brief period of self-indulgence.
Marketers count on people to realize a need, then quickly move them along the next stages so that they immediately arrive at the Purchase Stage. Also, the pre-shopping intention is usually absent.
Impulse buys are the main culprits to Cognitive Dissonance, wherein the buyer regrets his decision to purchase or would feel a bit of guilt.
Impulse Purchase Marketing Strategy
A lot of companies earn from impulse purchases. You can’t believe how much impulse buys people make online! In brick and mortar stores, 40% of shoppers make impulse purchases, while 25% of online shoppers do the same.
This phenomenon is not going to stop anytime soon. Now, there are specific strategies you can use to encourage impulse buys, and these are:
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Placing lower-priced products at the point of sale locations
This is commonly done in convenience stores and supermarkets where packs of candies are placed near the checkout counter. They are small and cheap; it will not impact the customer’s budget that much.
This is also the reason why candy packs are colorful; in order to catch the attention of buyers.
On eCommerce stores, webmasters typically place an upsell before checkout.
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Placing impulse products next to popular products
Ever noticed how sometimes the products on the ends of aisles are different from what’s within the aisle? Aisle ends, or end cap placements as some call them, are prominent product placements in a physical store because, in these locations, the customer’s mental energy is focused on thinking about his basic needs.
Impulse buys at end cap placements sneak out on customers, making them feel that these products must be bought now even when they are not part of the original shopping list because the customer’s mind is preoccupied with a different thought.
On online promotions, these are the items placed as recommendations at the bottom of the page.
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Having limited time offers
If they don’t buy it now, they might never have another chance to purchase the item for a cheaper price. Adding countdowns or “Until” dates can help. Read more about how to add urgency to your promotions here.
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Limiting the quantity
Offers that mention limited quantity also encourages a sense of urgency. You can announce that you have a limited number of items for sale. You can also establish that the product has not been mass-produced, and if you run out of stock, there is no possibility of producing again.
This strategy taps into our instinct of pain avoidance. This is why novelty items and limited editions are both expensive and in demand. They feed on people’s Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).
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Inducing panic buying
This is not really an ethical practice, but many retailers and companies have benefited from making consumers feel like they will run out of stuff to buy.
Take for example this pandemic. People rushed to purchase items they think they need, even those that they actually don’t. This is because they are in a distressed state and would like to grab as many items as they can thinking they “might” need them.
We have zombie films and other similar apocalypse movies to thank for those.
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Tap into your target audience’s sense of desire
When a person’s curiosity and sense of desire is aroused, there is no stopping where you can go. Desire taps into a person’s deeper instincts, which include thirst, hunger, and sexual drive.
Impulse purchases are high with dating and hook-up offers, as well as food. Remember our McDonald’s commercial example above? Yes, that’s it. Everyone has fallen into that impulse purchase trap at least once in their lives (don’t deny it!)
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Indicate Social Proof
If you know someone who has subscribed to a service and recommends it, then that is enough social proof for you to try something. The more people that recommend the product, the more a buyer will get encouraged to proceed.
After all, if people are doing it or using that product, that means it is the correct action. We have an innate need to follow the crowd, called herd mentality.
One way for an advertiser to establish social proof that is by posting reviews and customer testimonials. Some long-form landing page copies include social proofing towards the end by imitating a Facebook comments section. You can see some examples in one of our landing page analysis.
What Affects Buying Motivations?
A person’s buying behavior does not revolve solely around the type of offer. There are several factors that affect one’s motivations and emotions. Let us evaluate certain factors and see how each one can push a person to make an emotional or rational purchase.
1. Demography
Demographics include gender, age, location, income, and marital status.
The financial situation is already a given -- a person who has more money tends to buy more in terms of quantity and frequency. The moment he encounters something he likes, he does not take a lot of time in gathering information and researching alternatives, especially if he can already afford the option that is presented to him. He may even buy now (immediately) for convenience.
When it comes to age, younger people are more impulsive so they tend to fall under the emotional purchase category, while matured counterparts are more likely to hold off and research first.
In terms of gender, women are more emotional when shopping, and would like to see more of the benefits than the features of a product. But then, women take longer to shop. This is because they go through the stages of the consumer purchase process methodically. They would gather information (How much are these shoes? Where were they made? What is the material?) and would seek alternatives (Let’s check that other shop!)
That is not to say that they do not use their emotions when making decisions, though.
On the other hand, men are twice as likely to make more expensive impulse purchases than women.
When it comes to marital status, the change mostly affects men. Married men are more likely to spend more time shopping and even enjoy it as compared to their single counterparts.
2. Psychographics
Psychographics is like demographics but in the context of lifestyle and personality traits. One popular psychographics system used in classifying people together is the VALS system. VALS is short for Values, Attitudes, and Lifestyles.
People make purchases equivalent to how they value themselves. A purchase can even increase a person’s perceived value. Imagine a woman buying a luxury bag. She purchases it because she deems herself worthy of spending that much. And when she uses them and shows them to her peers, she would feel as if she has “leveled up”.
3. Economic Situation
This does not only include the person’s current financial situation and level of disposable income but the society’s (or country’s, to be more specific) economic situation.
For instance, when the pandemic started and governments declared lockdown, people started panic buying, which is another type of emotional purchase. People would just grab what they deem that they need for fear that they would end up without resources while locked at home. These are highly emotional purchases that do not follow the rational procedure of purchase; one that was made due to the current economic circumstances.
4. Reference Groups or Social Situation
We have an innate need to be “in” or part of a social circle. We can only do so if we act in accordance with how the group acts. For example, if someone you know expressed pleasure in eating pastries at Suzette’s Bakeshop, and you see that several of your connections (ie. friends in social media) have followed suit, you would be inclined to try it out as well.
And even if not, if you suddenly feel the desire to eat pastries in the future, you will think of Suzette’s Kitchen as a priority choice as the option is already locked in your memory.
If you can make your advertisement go viral, then you will be able to tap into your audience and make them your brand ambassadors. There is nothing better than your own customers promoting you to their social circle.
5. Opinion Leaders or Influencers
These are people whom we look up to. They can be celebrities, influencers, or professional critics (people we don’t really know personally), or opinion leaders in our group (people we know personally and whose advice we respect).
For instance, when checking if you should watch this interesting film, you would first look into what film critics have to say. We can also turn to “leaders” in our own social circle to hear their opinion. Whatever they say has an impact on whether or not you watch a certain movie.
6. Time Availability
If there is urgency, you will gravitate towards impulse buying (like panic buying on a lockdown) or limited time offers (using the urgency principle).
7. Culture
It is now pretty common for marketers from somewhere in the world to sell products or services to those on the other side of the planet (thank you, internet). It may be easier to communicate now, but marketing to a different culture is a whole new world in its own right.
There is a very real difference when it comes to selling to people from different cultures. For instance, when it comes to payment methods, Asians gravitate towards Cash on Delivery as compared to other payment methods. In a report published by G4S in 2014, 75% of online purchases in Asia were COD. If you want to sell your product in that region, or if you are an affiliate marketer, make sure the brand advertiser includes COD in the payment options.
8. Educational Attainment
Educational level greatly contributes to a person’s tendency for rational or irrational purchases. Those who are less educated are more likely to buy on impulse than highly educated ones because the latter have developed the habit of being suspicious of offers that seem too good to be true.
9. Personality and Self-Concept
You make buying decisions to get closer to what you deem as your ideal self. This may include your dreams and aspirations. For this reason, education, training, and self-improvement studies are by default emotional. They are also rational because you would often do your due diligence and search for additional information and alternatives before you proceed.
Self-concept also related to what you intend to be, as a person. This can be ideals like being an environmentalist, an animal rights activist, and similar concepts.
For example, one company sells Solid Shampoo Bars that are said to help reduce a person’s plastic bottle usage. An average person uses up at least one bottle of shampoo per month. Using a solid shampoo bar can help eliminate this.
An adept marketer would use the angle of reducing plastic bottle waste to promote to his eco-conscious target market. Even if the customer has never tried a shampoo bar before, he will no doubt give it a try because switching to this means he is helping the environment, and in essence, fulfilling his self-concept of being an environmentalist.
If you would notice, most of these behaviors can be predicted once you create an accurate advertising persona. If you’re at a loss about your target market, then you won’t be able to develop a marketing strategy that would tap on their emotions.
Are You Buying Rationally or Emotionally?
Most of the time, people defend their purchases with the benefits of the product or service just to assure people (and themselves) that their purchase was rational and that they have not been swayed by their emotions.
This is justifiable, though. Think about if you purchase a beautiful yet expensive necklace because you felt envious of your friend who also has this item. Would you tell yourself (or someone else), that you bought it because you got jealous? That’ll make you look bad! Some would not even admit that they got jealous because that would mean admitting that the other person has something better.
It seems as if being emotional in your purchases is somehow a negative thing. It’s not, really. According to the TED talk by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, our minds are guided by our emotions. According to his research, those who cannot experience emotions as a result of unique medical conditions find it difficult to make decisions. It could be because they cannot assign a value to something. For instance, if asked if something is beautiful, they cannot decide if it is.
However, some purchases are heavily influenced by emotions, while others are only slightly influenced. The latter is where rational purchases come into play. If you can give yourself time to think before buying something or if you do your due diligence (in short, research), then you are being rational.
However, that is not to say that you don't use your emotions for rational buys! Some purchases that fall under the rational category are heavily influenced by emotions still.
One example of this scenario is popular yet expensive brands. The customer rationalizes the purchase that is actually driven by emotion. You buy a Porsche not because it takes you from one place to another; it’s because it does so with blazing speeds, sleek aesthetics, and of course, with grandeur.
Now when drafting your marketing funnel or even just your ad and landing page, you must first answer this question:
What emotion can I use to manipulate my target market to purchase?
Your marketing strategy will revolve around your answer.
Examples on How to Utilize Emotions for Virtually Any Purchase Decision
As we’ve previously discussed, all purchases are influenced by emotions. The only difference is the amount of emotion placed in the decision-making process. If you want your target customers to choose you over other alternatives, no matter how high your price or how better the other options are, then you need to learn how to use feelings and attachment.
Here are some examples of how some very skilled marketers were able to do this.
1. Bestow Life Insurance
This funny life insurance commercial was able to put fear into the viewer’s minds; fear that other people will find out that they don’t have life insurance.
They end the clip by placing a huge logo of their brand. Now that you’re feeling squeamish about your lack of life insurance, you might actually search for Bestow.com
2. Girls Don't Poop - PooPourri.com
This is undoubtedly one of the best adverts we’ve ever seen. You might be wondering what the product is about. Go on and watch the full two minutes and 15 seconds of fun.
The advertiser was able to uncannily make such a novelty product into a must-have. It was both fun and memorable, wasn’t it? This is a great impulse buy, and if shown to single women aged 18 to 30-something, they will surely land a lot of sales.
Dumped a creamy behemoth from your cavernous bowels? This is a great solution. Whether or not it is a need is up to you.
3. Silence of Love - Thai Life Insurance
We can learn a lot from this advert from Thai Life Insurance. Prepare some tissues!
It’s the story that sells the product. The video’s empathic storytelling can make you remember the offer. If you have a hard-working parent whom you do not appreciate, you might even feel some sort of attachment to this commercial.
Even if you don’t buy life insurance right now as it is a purchase that requires in-depth scrutiny, there is very little doubt that you will consider Thai Life Insurance as one of your options (if you’re in Thailand, that is).
4. Quarter Pounder from McDonald’s
Since we’ve already discussed this at the beginning of this post, why don’t we emphasize the post by showing you the Quarter Pounder commercial?
If that doesn’t make your mouth water even when you’re not hungry, then you’re probably a Burger King loyalist.
This kind of advert convinces people to make an impulse purchase on a brand that they are already familiar with but not thinking about at the moment.
5. Starscope Monocular
Even advertisements without video can encourage people to make impulsive purchases, especially if the product is offered at a price that is too low for its purpose.
An item that costs only $47 can replace those that cost $3,000? Sounds interesting! This is where the curiosity principle creeps in.
Upon clicking the ad, you will arrive at a long-form copy landing page that will tell you how powerful this ultra-compact, lightweight monocular telescope is. And for a low price of less than $50? It’s a steal! Who doesn’t like a great deal? Let’s go buy it now, it’s affordable anyway.
6. Sofiadate.com
Libido is something that is innate in all of us and is very hard to control. Advertisements that use your sex drive to encourage a purchase play on your Pleasure emotion.
If something like this pops on your screen, you’d think to yourself, well why not?
She’s just looking for someone to talk to, yes? Who am I to deny her that?
These are probably the questions that come to mind, and the most likely answers to these questions are forms of rationalization. You click and arrive at this page:
It tells you that you can chat with single women and that registration is free. You’ve got nothing to lose, so you sign up. Once you’re inside, you get so hooked that staying in the platform becomes a need. And you end up paying a subscription fee.
Conclusion
There are a thousand ways for you to market to your customers, but you must never forget one simple fact: their emotions play a big role in their decision. As such, you must never leave emotions out the door, even when promoting products or services that require logic and rationality. Emotion is key to establishing a connection with your customers.
If your own native advertising campaigns are making you emotional, be rational, and try us out! Get in touch with us at love@brax.io.
