Emotional Motivation in Customer Purchase Decisions

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Fully Connected Customers and Emotional Motivators
Developing a New Marketing Strategy for Flourishers
Article Analysis: Strengths
Comparing the Articles
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Key Points of the Article: The Importance of Customer Value

In the article, The new science of customer emotions by Scott Magids, Alan Zorfas, and Daniel Leemon (2015), scientists reveal the importance of buyer emotions in the process of choosing a product and making a purchase, and evaluating customers’ loyalty and value. The authors of the article found that each brand has its group of purchasers with the highest customers value, which is determined by the fact that these customers are ready and spend the most money on the company’s products. Scholars also found that among the four stages of customer engagement (not interested, highly satisfied, perceived brand differentiation, and fully connected), the latter group spends twice as much as the second. Therefore, Magids, Zorfas, and Leemon opened up new ways to implement the company’s marketing strategy. In particular, the scientists suggested focusing on increasing the size of the last group and not the second, as was traditionally done.

Fully Connected Customers and Emotional Motivators

Scientists found that emotional connection is the main metric that characterizes a group of fully connected customers. In this regard, to increase their number, scientists have proposed the introduction of some marketing practices based on the creation of an emotional connection between brands and buyers. To do this, the authors asked the company to study which emotions – for example, “a sense of belonging,” “a sense of confidence in the future,” or “a sense of the well-being” are decisive in choosing a brand and making a purchase decision. The authors conducted a study examining the behavior of shoppers in one apparel store and helped the store’s management develop a marketing campaign that focused on attracting a group of fully connected customers – the Flourishers, who were the primary source of the company’s income. This group included female, young urban people and was characterized by high cultural diversity.

Developing a New Marketing Strategy for Flourishers

After the company opened several stores in the Flourishers’ concentration locations, these stores’ revenues were 20% higher than all historical figures. Besides, the group’s online behaviour and preferences were studied, after which the store increased its presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The store also improved the functioning of the mobile website, which led to an increase in online shopping. The girls were encouraged to share photos on Instagram, some of which were used for advertising the store. This new advertising practice gave the girls sense of belonging. Service was also proposed where girls could buy a product online and then pick it up at a store to fulfil the request for a sense of freedom. In conclusion, the authors of the article summarized that working with fully connected customers and using emotional motivators is an excellent opportunity to increase ROI when developing a marketing strategy.

Article Analysis: Strengths

The strength of the article is that the authors presented a study that examined the phenomenon of emotional decision making. According to the theory of Haidt (2006), a person’s consciousness can be divided into a rational and an irrational or subconscious part. In making decisions, people are usually guided by both sides of their personality or both parts of their consciousness. The rational part, which is located in the neocortex, in the framework of evolution, appeared much later. The irrational part, which is in the limbic system, appeared earlier. Besides, Haidt (2006) gives an example of an elephant and a rider, explaining that a person cannot easily control the irrational part of consciousness. Therefore, emotional motivators are a new term that characterizes the process of irrational decision-making.

Article Analysis: Options for Further Research

There are several factors influencing consumer behaviour, namely cultural, social, personal and psychological. These factors can be considered when developing a strategy to increase the segment of fully connected customers. Moreover, each of these factors creates an opportunity to classify emotional motivators. It is especially true for psychological factors since, through social media, brands gain access to direct communication with customers.

It is noteworthy that psychological factors include motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes. Motivation can be based both on rational beliefs and irrational or emotional desires. The level of rationality or irrationality can also be related to Maslow’s pyramid of needs. It is highly likely that the satisfaction of basic needs will be characterized by more rationality. The implementation of higher needs such as love, esteem and self-actualization may be less rational. Magids et al. (2015) gave examples of emotional motivators associated with the satisfaction of the basic need for safety, particularly the feeling of well-being and confidence in the future.

Article for Comparison, Summary

In his article for the Harvard Business Review Are You Really Innovating Around Your Customers’ Needs? Sunil Gupta (2020) covered the topic of customer needs satisfaction. The scientist suggested that not all companies are genuinely customer-oriented even though they may think they are. The scholar gave four prime examples of customer-oriented companies that built their business by putting themselves in customers’ shoes. These are Filld and Booster companies, who deliver gasoline on demand, Rivigo, who invented new logistic rules for Indian truck drivers, and Hointer, who reinvented in-shop clothing purchases. Another example is DBS bank, which developed an app helping customers choose a house of their dream and then take out DBS’s mortgage. All these companies have become successful by recognizing their customers’ and employees’ actual needs rather than implementing product- or service-centric marketing practices.

Comparing the Articles

The intersection point for articles by Magids et al. (2015) and Gupta (2020) is their focus on customers’ needs. Magids et al. (2015) revealed the importance of emotional motivators in attracting and retaining fully connected customers, highlighting them as a group, most important for increasing profits. In contrast, Gupta (2020) wrote an article from the customer’s perspective and presented the relationship between the company and the customer more clearly. Then, Magids et al. (2015) defined current marketing practices of utilizing emotional appeal when encouraging purchases and created an array of ’emotional motivators’ applicable to a great variety of products and customers. Gupta’s (2020) article is unique with his idea of rejecting far-fetched marketing techniques and moving towards the buyer’s true desires.

Conclusion

Thus, a review of the article The new science of customer emotions by Scott Magids, Alan Zorfas, and Daniel Leemon was provided. The article’s main topic is the research based on the implementation of the strategy developed by the authors aimed to increase sales by expanding the group of fully connected customers. This research is consistent with Haidt’s (2006), Kahneman’s (2011), and Solomon et al.’s (2017) economic theories. In particular, the authors reveal ways to attract buyers based on their behaviour from a behavioural influence perspective on decision-making. The scientific article by Magids et al. (2015) was also compared with Gupta’s (2020) popular article. Both pieces are educative and innovative since they reveal a new perspective on customers’ needs.

References

Gupta, S. (2020). Are you really innovating around your customers’ needs?Harvard Business Review. Web.

Haidt, J. (2006). The happiness hypothesis: Finding modern truth in ancient wisdom. Basic books.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan.

Magids, S., Zorfas, A., & Leemon, D. (2015). The new science of customer emotions. Harvard Business Review, 76, 66-74.

Solomon, M. R., White, K., Dahl, D. W., Zaichkowsky, J. L., & Polegato, R. (2017). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being. Boston, MA: Pearson.

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