What role does empathy and emotion play in marketing?
How often do we hear that we shouldn’t let emotions cloud our decisions?
The truth is, we wouldn’t be able to make a decision without our emotions.
Let’s not confuse “emotion” with what happens at a large Italian family dinner. That’s pure drama.
I’m talking about making an emotional connection by tapping into our empathy.
Unless we’re a sociopath, we all have the capability to feel on a visceral level what someone is going through.
I’ll let Sesame Street and Mark Ruffalo explain.
Many factors are in play before a customer decides to buy your product or service. The most important factor is the impression you leave them with.
Every product or service has emotional baggage attached to it. Baggage that we need to unpack to discover.
People are much more likely to buy from companies they feel an emotional connection to.
The “From Promotion to Emotion” study found that buyers with a strong emotional tie to your brand are:
-
5 times more likely to consider buying from you
-
13 times more likely to buy, and
-
30 times more likely to pay a premium
How do we create an emotional connection?
“The goal of advertising is not to make them think something. It’s to make them feel something.” – Matthew Luhn.”
We can start by treating people as humans not ledger entries.
We can’t know what our customer needs unless we have enough empathy to put ourselves in their place.
We do this all the time when we do keyword research.
We need to be human.
“In the language of the visual web, when we share a video or an image, we’re not just sharing the object, but we’re sharing in the emotional response it creates.” ~ Google’s Abigail Posner
We expect our health care professions to be empathetic to us. Do we expect the same from a grocery store or customer service centre?
Call centres have a reputation for being the antithesis of empathetic. They’re thought of as canyons of cubicles occupied by robots processing assembly lines of callers. Or is that telemarketing centres?
Why is empathetic service so important?
Yes, people who call you with a problem want you to solve it. But how we get to that solution is also important. Customers want to be listened to. They want to be validated.
Benefits of showing empathy and emotional support:
-
Better understanding of needs
-
Better conflict resolution
-
Better business culture
You can’t fake empathy. Unless you’re a sociopath or politician, people will see it as condescension.
Did you know we can practice empathy?
“Empathy is a cognitive attribute, not a personality trait.” – Dr. Mohammadreza Hojat
7 ways to exercise your empathy.
– Listen and don’t interrupt.
– Be present when you are with people and tune into non-verbal communication.
– Smile at people.
– Use people’s names and encourage them.
– Try to empathize with people whose beliefs you don’t share.
– Give genuine recognition.
– Challenge yourself to have a deeper conversation with a colleague.
I leave you with this quote by Damian Farnworth:
“You enter the conversation that’s already going on in your customer’s heart.It’s that emotional tie-in that you want with people…people make buying decisions based upon emotions.They use the logic and their rationale to justify those decisions, but they always start with emotions.Whether it’s pride, a desire to belong, a desire to be loved, a desire for fame or for wealth, etc.Those are all emotions, and they drive buying decisions.We have to be able to relate to people and understand their desires or beliefs.Our job is not to create or change that belief, it’s simply to confirm and validate that belief through the products and content we create.”
i24 virtual receptionists offer empathetic and personalized caller support. They provide a seamless extension of your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
