Buying decisions, however rational they may seem, are usually heavily influenced by emotions. With this in mind, you should immediately ask yourself a question: how can I address the emotions of the customers in order to sell them my product? Well, there are several ways you can go at it.
Positive or negative?
People can feel incredibly many, finely differentiated feelings with the finest nuances. But generally, you can divide all these emotions into two different camps. On the one hand, it is the positive emotions, such as joy, love and so on. On the other hand, it is the negative emotions, such as anger, hatred, jealousy, fear and many more. The question is what works better with the customer.
When to use positive emotions
If you manage to generate positive emotions with your message, then that’s good. However, most advertisements rely on this tactic. They employ images, videos and sound clips that awaken positive associations with the customer (more on that later). Here, the consumer is addressed who buys because he enjoys to shop and, of course, because he can. A pleasure shopper, you might say.
This approach is especially effective in the marketing of high-end goods that aren’t essential for living (but simply make you feel good), such as fragrances, fashion and jewelry, cars, holidays etc.
When to use negative emotions
Marketing that operates with this kind of feelings may appear a bit grim and perhaps a bit unusual at first glance, but the results can be impressive. It has been scientifically proven that anxiety and pain prevention are greater purchase motivators than joy and pleasure.
Negative emotions make the customer willing to spend a lot of money on something that might avoid these same bad feelings in the future. In this case, the product is the solution to a problem that is, by the means of advertising, associated with strong negative emotions. Products that are sold very successfully using this kind of scare tactics are insurances, cosmetics, dietary supplements, cleaning products and so on.
In short: Luxury goods are products that are not essential but are highly desired. They are bought for several reasons: to support self-worth and status, or for the product’s superior quality. When selling these sort of products, you should focus on positive emotions as these are things we buy for pleasure – not for pain or problem prevention. However, for many other kinds of products, it may be far more effective to use a different tactic: instead of telling customers how GOOD their life would be if they bought your product, try to illustrate to them how BAD it could be if they don’t.
