Inbound Marketing Insights

Most often, the way we feel influences our decisions and actions. Can you still remember the last time you bought an item because you got excited about it, and it created an emotion for you? That's you being human.

As a marketer, you can rely on the fact that emotion is a strong force that prompts action to customers. In email  marketing automation, you call this an “emotional trigger.” It's a strategy where you touch the feelings of your recipients to motivate them to act according to your liking, such as clicking on your "Buy Now" button. However, your emotional triggers must have objectives so you have a clear way to know if you are achieving your goals. You can set different objectives, including driving conversions,  growing your email list, nurturing leads, or simply driving website traffic.

There are different ways to use emotional triggers in your email campaigns to keep your subscribers engaged. Let's explore each emotion and the best way to utilize that in your next marketing campaign.

1. Belonging
In his Theory of Human Motivation, Maslow put belongingness at the third level of the hierarchy of needs as people display the need to feel a sense of acceptance and belonging.

You can use this in your email by using words that suggest a sense of belonging such as "we," "together," and "join us" which are also effective in building loyalty and relationships with customers.

Example: “You are not alone! Join 300 other climate change advocates now.”

2. Hope
Customers find value in your business if you offer appropriate solutions to their problems. If you understand the challenges of your customers or what they want to achieve, you can create a sense of hope and tell them that you are capable of providing the answers to what they want to overcome or achieve – whether through a product or a service.

Example: “Don’t know how to drive qualified traffic to your website? We got you covered!”

3. Fear
This feeling is so strong that it can cause panic and drive people to act immediately. When a person is afraid, he or she feels the need to do something in order to overcome the fear, as well as be safe and secure. You can trigger the feeling of fear when you back up your messages with facts and statistics. Be sure to use this one sparingly, though. 

Example: “14 million Americans have a self-reported visual impairment. You could be one of them. Get your eyes checked now!”

4. Lust
Lust refers to extreme cravings. It can be towards food, clothes, other material things, and even experiences. As a marketer, you can feed these desires by showing your customers a series of attractive offers or exclusive discounts that would be hard to resist.

Example: “50% off on your dream smartphone!"

5. Greed
Greed is the intense desire for something more, be it money, wealth or power. It’s common for customers to want more than what they currently have. If you are creative, you can play with this emotion by making customers feel that they are getting more value for the cost.

Example: “Get 3 summer tank tops for a price of 1!”

6. Vanity
People enjoy the feeling of being praised and flattered. So, capture the hearts of your customers with flattery. Tell them the things that they want to hear. To focus on the vanity emotion, you can start by giving them compliments.

Example: “You’re too good to settle for something less than you deserve."

7. Guilt
Guilt is an awful feeling that makes people feel the need to do something to make a wrong thing right. When a person experiences guilt, he or she will want to get rid of it immediately. To motivate customers to act using guilt, you must make them feel responsible for something. You can mention the consequences if they do not act right away to create a sense of urgency.

Example: “You could be losing more customers if you don’t automate your marketing now."

Emotions can be tricky, but for marketers, it can be helpful when you understand how it works so that you can use them to better connect with your prospects and improve your marketing campaigns. 

Need help getting started? We invite you to schedule an inbound marketing consultation where we can discuss your current inbound initiatives and ways to optimize your digital marketing program.