Emotional response is an integral part of how marketers try to influence customer behaviour. It is the way in which we – as humans – respond to stimulus, whether that stimulus is positive or negative. Marketing psychology studies how customer behaviour is affected by emotional responses, using both cognitive and affective approaches to understand how customers make decisions and interact with products or services. There are a variety of different approaches to studying emotional response, including both qualitative and quantitative research.
What drives an emotional response?
It is believed that a variety of factors within our psyche can play a role in how we respond to a stimulus. One study suggested that “four affective indicators” are key determinants of our emotional reaction: liking, pleasure, arousal and dominance. Liking is our ability to find something pleasant or enjoyable, while pleasure reflects our overall positive or negative state regarding the stimulus. Meanwhile, arousal reflects our awareness and engagement in response to the stimulus, and dominance deals with the feeling of control over the situation.
Overall, an understanding of these dimensions can help marketers understand how customers will react to a certain product or service.
How is emotional responsemeasured?
When marketing psychology researchers measure customer emotional response, they typically use a combination of both self-reported and physiologically-based measures. One common method is to use a survey tool such as a Likert scale to ask customers to rate their feelings on a range of emotions. This can then be used to gain insight into how customers feel about a particular service or product.
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In addition, researchers will often resort to physiological methods to gain insight into customers’ emotional responses. These techniques involve measuring things like skin conductance, heart rate and facial expressions as an indication of how customers may be feeling in response to a particular stimulus.
What can marketers do to influence emotional response?
It is believed that marketers can influence customer emotional response by targeting and creating messages which evoke the desired emotion. For example, humour is often used to elicit a positive response, or heavy use of imagery can be used to create a sense of excitement around a product or service.
In addition, marketers can also take advantage of existing emotions in the marketplace. For example, a company could tap into the current emotions sparked by a political event and find ways to leverage them in their communications.
Marketers should also consider the overall customer journey when attempting to influence emotional response. Does the customer journey flow smoothly? Are there any potential pitfalls which could have a negative effect on a customer’s emotional response? An understanding of the overall customer experience and how it affects emotional response is key when targeting customers.