Emotions have a big impact on a consumer’s purchasing decisions, but the extent of this influence varies depending on the circumstances. For example, there are times when consumers choose a certain brand because they don’t have a choice, not because they actually feel a connection with a brand. These are the worst situations for a brand to be in, and can mean the loss of a customer as soon as something better comes along.
In order to build a stronger relationship with consumers, marketers are learning how to build the connection by measuring and responding to their emotions. We call this sentiment analysis,also known as the way to measure attitudes consumers have towards a brand.A deep, strong, emotional connection leads to brand loyalty, and is the goal of every marketer.
So why it is important to measure a consumer’s attitude, and how can emotions lead consumers to become loyal to your brand?S. Jobanputra conducted a study about sentiment analysis that will help you understand how to go about connecting emotions with brand loyalty.
Why Measure Consumer’s Attitude?
Likes and follows on social media don’t show much user engagement and are much too simple of actions to glean useful information from.This is where sentiment analysis plays a big role.
There are different processes to identify and get information in source material that help with connecting emotions with brand loyalty:
- Natural language processing
- Text analysis or data interpretation
- Computational linguistics
The important thing about sentimental analysis is that it gives you both qualitative and quantitative data. Having access to both sides is a favorable situation for the market research.
Emotion and Brand
Emotions plays a major role in consumers’ purchasing decisions, as emotion is an indirect motivator in consumer’s behavior.
According to S. Jobanputra’s study, 99% of consumer decisions are made subconsciously.Aeker and Keller (as cited by S. Jobanputra), report established links between emotions and strong brands. Products that tap into emotions always win, especially when they successfully build a connection.
Brand Loyalty
Any business transaction involves trust, and loyalty involves an unquestionable trust. As off putting as it may sound, the less consumers are consciously thinking about purchases, the better it is for your brand, as long as you’ve established brand loyalty.
However, there are times when this trust is not entirely directed at the brand, but is instead because of other important and compelling components that influence a consumer’s commitment to the product, such as:
- Utility
- Price
- Other consumer’s reviews
Because of these other factors, when a consumer becomes loyal to a brand, it ultimately requires more than just trust. At this point, emotional sentiment needs to be added to the trust to build up brand loyalty.
Why is connecting emotions with brand loyalty so important? Emotionally loyal consumers are said to be more willing to spend on that specific brand they are loyal to, even if there are other more meaningful and available alternatives.According to Gallob (as cited by S. Jobanputra), when consumers have an emotional connection to a brand, they’ll visit stores 32% more often. Once there, they spend 46% more money on that brand alone, than with those in which they have no emotional attachments.
When brand loyalty is achieved (with an emotional attachment), this will act as a defense against consumers switching between brands because of other factors, like price.
The Importance of Emotional Connection
Brand loyalty does not equate to consumers habitually buying that same brand.Habitual buy is not based on trust and sentiment.
Having an emotional connection towards a brand means that consumers feel a sense of belonging whenever they see that brand, or items from that brand. When exposed to that brand, they feel a sense of thrill, freedom, and excitement.
An additional incentive when marketers are successful in connecting emotions with brand loyalty is getting loyal consumers to do the marketing for you.Their emotional connection to the brand turns them into social brand ambassadors who help by generating word-of-mouth endorsements.
Connecting emotions with brand loyalty is necessary for companies in both attracting new customers, as well as keeping the old. Having an emotional connection could increase a company’s annual sales by 3% to 5%. It’s a lot like being in a committed relationship – only this relationship is between a brand and the target consumers.
As long as the company provides a positive experience and good emotional delivery to their consumers, connecting emotions with brand loyalty isn’t hard to do.
What do you think about connecting emotions with brand loyalty? Any interesting studies to share? We’d love to continue the conversation – in the comments, or tweet us at @MabblyTribe.
