Emotions and buying decision

If you want to boost sales copy conversion rates, arouse your prospects'
appropriate emotions. They will like that. But help them rationalize
their buying decisions.

If you are using negative feelings to agitate prospects, don't do that
for a long time or you will scare them away.Quickly give them hope.
They will have reason to read on.

We hardly make buying decisions without emotions.

 

Not sure that I agree. Negative impulses can arouse passion, passion can stimulate interest which in turn can produce sales. One has to get the prospective client to pay attention. Negativity if properly utilized can produce results. A mixture of positive/negative is what I've always used as to advertising.

 

I strongly disagree.

Using negative emotions to help people make decisions is not at all bad.

People do things to avoid "pain". If you can bring up the pain and show them the solution, you can make a sale.

Let me explain.

You buy a car to avoid commuting via a bus.
You buy a fancy car to avoid being looked down on and want people to take you seriously.

These are just simple examples, there are hundreds of reasons why people do a certain thing.

According to Dan Ariely, humans are not rational. We only rationalize the things we do after doing it.

 

I think, depending on what you are selling and the direction you choose, both ways can be successful.

1. The first way would be to feed off the reader or consumers already existing ego by writing something that assures them that they are "the man". It lets them know they already are great, and your product or service just helps them show it. This is something Nike seems to do. They advertise to athletes with strong personal egos. These athletes think they are the s***, and Nike acts as a teammate reassuring them that they are.

2. The other way is to write something that feeds off their desires of having a higher social status. Such as the car example above... "buy this car because you will look and feel more successful."

Either way I think both strategies can be successful. I just want to add that I am just breaking into the copywriting field, and as I'm writing this, I'm realizing how dark and emotion playing it can be.

 

Negativity is a good thing if you're able to hit on as much pain points as you can. You want to make people relate to you by showing how you were going through the same things. Could be frustration, anger, feelings of giving up etc. Then you can talk about coming across a solution. From there you can lead people to wherever.

I think if you can encapsulate it into your own story, people will buy into you because you're showing that you were just like them.

I think doing this in a video sales letter would be the best way to go.

 

Great insight!

The truth is, it really matters as to what you are selling, and to whom you are selling it.

A negative approach could work or otherwise. A positive approach could work or otherwise.

What's important is your products could be helpful for your prospects, and you make them realize it in a creative, rich and no-nonsense way.

 

Here is one of my favorite quotes in this regard: “People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.” Zig Ziglar.

Sometimes, people are aroused by advertising/marketing that creates a negative feeling inside them (e.g. they are tired of being broke so they want to see a credit advisor, they are tired of being overweight so they want to see a weight loss clinic). Other times, they are aroused by things that give them a sense of hope (e.g. buying such and such a program promises to help them improve their lives, finances, or health in some way).

The idea isn't to "agitate" the person so much as to "motivate" him or her by appealing to the emotions. But you, as an advertiser, can't always control what emotion (positive or negative) your message will ignite within an individual. It's a very personal thing.

 

Agreed. Well worded.

 

Yes, good point.

Emoticons should be used differently for different subjects . . . using them to sell serious academic data would probably not be a good idea, but when used to sell social-media methods, probably a very good idea, so consider the subject matter

Chris