Emotions and Logic in Consumerism

Abstract
Consumer purchase decisions are often linked to emotions and can lead to impulse and uninformed buying behavior. This creates a problem for marketers who rely on emotional appeals to increase sales. In order for businesses to grow in today’s economy, they must acquire new customers and at the same time retain the old ones. Research indicates that in order for advertising to be most effective in acquiring and retaining new customers, these emotions must also be linked to logic. This paper examines how marketers are using emotions and logic to generate the most sales and retain more customers.

Emotions and Logic in Consumerism
Advertising can be seen in virtually every aspect of our lives, and is almost inescapable. We encounter it on billboards, radio, every internet site, magazines, cell phone applications, clothing, television, restrooms, gas pumps, and many more sites. This year in the United States, Black Friday sales hit over $1 billion in online sales. The average cost for a 30 second time slot for a Super Bowl commercial was $3.5 million, according to USA Today. Psychologists, marketers and business people worldwide are interested in why consumers consume. What is the driving force behind why someone will spend so much more money on Black Friday as opposed to other days out of the year? And how can a business better exploit these consumers in order to make more money? With so much money involved in our consumption habits, and so much money involved in getting these advertisements, it is no wonder there is also a lot of money being put into the study of how to make these ads more effective. This is a hot topic in the marketplace today because there is so much money involved. Businesses are trying to discover the real reason behind why people buy, and they are willing to pay a lot of money to find that answer. It would seem obvious that if they were willing to pay $3.5 million for thirty seconds, they would have some other money set aside to research how effective these ads are. This is of utmost import to businesses worldwide and is a top priority. The first purpose of advertising is to create awareness of a product, idea or brand (Woodside, Megehee & Sood, 2012). There are many different methods to get this done, but it is only effective if it leads to the eventual sale. For any business to survive, it needs sales, because sales generate revenue. This revenue is taken and invested back into company, part of which goes towards their advertising efforts. It is a continuous cycle that successful and growing businesses should see expanding (Knutson et. al., 2003). In addition to convincing a consumer to make a purchase, successful businesses must also keep those customers happy. This is called retention. Retention is key to helping a business grow, because if they cannot retain their old customers, they will always have to put money into finding new customers instead of building on current relationships and strengthening them. This is often achieved through loyalty programs, which incentivize consumers to stay loyal to a brand or product (Woodside, Megehee & Sood, 2012). Thus we see that the goals of effective advertisements are three-fold: create awareness, generate sales, and retain current customers. Currently, research is being conducted as to what types of advertisements are most effective in achieving the three goals of an effective ad. They have found that this is most often achieved when advertisements appeal to a consumer’s emotions (d’Astous & Legendre, 2009). This can be pleasant emotions, such as fondness, humor, childhood memories, or happiness overall. It can also be geared toward more negative emotions such as fear, indignation, or self-deprecation (Janakiraman & Niraj, 2011). Emotions are powerful feelings that tend to guide us toward our consumer decisions in one way or another (Knutson et. al., 2003). This is vital to understanding for marketing professionals today; however, new research suggests that emotions are only part of the equation. The other part of the equation is logic, or reason and sound judgment. Researchers have found that logic is the key in retaining customers. In this paper, we will discuss how emotions and logic are used together to increase sales and retain customers.
Role of Emotions in Consumerism Emotions come from a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others. Diverse areas of the brain control emotions, and different emotions are found in different locations. Fear conditioning has been detected to be in the amygdala (LeDoux, 2000), whereas disgust, or remorse, has been linked to the insular cortex (Sanfey et al. 2003). Activity in the striatum often denotes reward (Knutson 2003). These emotions are in many parts of the brain, yet they all influence our purchasing decisions. Marketers must understand where these emotions come from and how they work in order to sell most effectively. Frequently, the reason we actually make purchases, especially on smaller ticket items, is because our emotions tell us to (DiClemente & Hantula, 2003). On smaller ticket items, such as clothing or what food to eat, this can be dictated based purely off emotions because there is often little worry as to the consequences of their purchase. Emotions work especially well in advertisements when there is not much difference across multiple products and its offerings (d’Astous & Legendre, 2009). On larger items, however, there are many more considerations to consider, so while emotions still play a key role, they are not the only motivator (Knutson et. al., 2003). DiClemente and Hantula also stated that “to get hold of your consumer, or better, to make your consumer react, it is only necessary to confront him with either fundamental or conditioned emotional stimuli.” This means that marketers must determine what types of advertisements appeal to our emotions and drive us to make decisions (Porat & Tractinsky, 2012). If they can competently call on our emotions, then sales will go up.
Types Advertisements that Appeal to Emotions
There are hundreds of ways to appeal to emotions, but we focus on just four broad appeals that cover a wide variety of advertisements. The first appeal is a personal appeal. This is used when things are “close to home” or appeal to a very connected part of us (Porat & Tractinsky, 2012). This includes, but is not limited to nostalgia, pride, ambition, joy, and sentiment. Lin, Lai and Yeh (2007) have research that shows that personal appeal is a great way to get consumers to purchase things that they feel are needs. A second appeal, sex appeal, may seem all to familiar because of how often it is used. However, when used incorrectly or overbearingly, consumers will not remember the product that results in no more gain of sales. Sex appeal is best used when it becomes an integral part of the product and is not vulgar. This is an extremely common form of advertising that can also be very effective when used correctly to appeal to one of our most carnal desires and behaviors. Porat and Tractinsky’s research has shown that often consumers make decisions based off status, recognition, acceptance, respect, or affiliation. Advertisements that aim at those types of attitudes are using social appeal. A great example of a company that uses social appeal is Apple. Apple has been able to make their products a status symbol that goes beyond just a cell phone or computer (d’Astous & Legendre, 2009). Lin, Lai and Yeh stated that in today’s world, one does simply buy a cell phone based off features and user compatibility, it has become an integral part of our world and how we determine status. Social appeal is becoming a stronger motivator everyday, and it’s something marketers are beginning to see (Lin, Lai & Yeh, 2007). The last type of appeal may seem less friendly but is equally useful in persuading consumers to make a purchasing decision (Knutson et. al., 2003). Foxall and Yani-de-Soriano (2011) say that “fear is one of the great motivators of action.” Fear appeal can readily be seen in such advertisements as health or life insurance. These tactics are not overbearing, but they help consumers see the need for insurance, and good insurance, should anything happen to their health (Foxall & Yani-de-Soriano, 2011). Fear has always been a tactic drawn upon by marketing professionals.
Problems with Appealing Only to Emotions
Making purchases based solely on emotions causes us to make impulse buying decisions (Teixeir, Wedel & Pieters, 2012). While many companies rely on impulse decisions as part of their business model, these decisions are the ones consumers regret most often (Penz & Hogg, 2011). This is because these decisions weren’t thought out beforehand. The consumer didn’t fully consider his or her options and the reasons for making the purchase before committing to the purchase. Because of this lack of anticipation, it is all too common for consumers to experience buyer’s remorse. Buyer’s remorse leads to less satisfied customers, and customers who are less likely to return to that company for business (Kumar, Pozza, Petersen & Shah, 2009). For this reason, it is important that marketers also focus on appealing to a consumers’ logic.
The Role of Logic in Consumerism
Logic is defined as reason or sound judgment. In consumer behavior, it is making decisions based on reliable and accurate information. Logic, from a marketing standpoint, is meant to reinforce the reasons a purchase is made (Foxall & Yani-de-Soriano, 2011). This decreases the likelihood that a consumer will feel buyer’s remorse and can lead a customer to become a repeat-customer (Penz & Hogg, 2011). This is because the customer is satisfied with their purchase. It does not necessarily mean that what they bought represents the best product in its category, but only that the customer feels satisfied enough that they understood their decision.
Logic is a rationale that works differently on different people. Sanfey, Rilling, Aronsong, Nystrom and Cohen (2003) show that at first it may seem that it would be better used on adults who require more information before making a purchase. While this is true, and it becomes increasingly true with levels of education, it does not make educated adults a monopoly over the logic market. Children, as uneducated as they may be, can require just as much logic as an adult. The difference is in how this rationale appeals to them (Mishra & Olshavsky, 2005). For an adolescent that wants a Pokemon cards, advertisers may use a social appeal to get them to buy. Emotionally, it will make them cool with their friends, logically, however, these cards will help the adolescent to learn and grow with his or her friends. This type of advertising can appeal to their logic even when it seems not to.
Problems with Logic Logic is not always enough to get a customer to make the purchase. That is why consumers buy expensive, gas-guzzling and sporty cars when logic would tell them to buy a more cost and fuel-efficient vehicle. In order to get enough information about a product, such as a computer, to make a very informed decision, the consumer must do a considerable amount of research. This research will likely appeal to some emotions, such as status or affiliation, but it will mostly influence a consumer’s knowledge and appeal to their logic (Mishra & Olshavsky, 2005). While emotions are still involved, they are not implicit to the advertisement itself because it is sought after information rather than information that is handed out. Sales and marketing work best when logic and emotions are tied together. This could come from an advertisement showing how delicious a food item looks while at the same time discussing the health benefits of such food (DiClemente & Hantula, 2003). It could also mean giving a consumer enough time to study his or her options before making the decision instead of pressuring them to decide right that instant, even though that is when emotions run high (Kumar et al., 2009). If marketers focus on using emotions and logic together, they will have more success in acquiring new customers and retaining old ones (Penz & Hogg, 2011). This is because emotions are what drive a consumer to make the purchase. Without emotions, the economy of the United States would look much, much different than it does today. Logic is not typically enough to persuade consumers to make the purchase, but it does a very good job at convincing them that the purchase they made was a good one (Sanfey, Rilling, Aronsong, Nystrom & Cohen, 2003). When advertisers are able to tie logic and emotion into the same buying experience, we get the greatest likelihood for an acquisition of a new customer and retention of those same customers.
Acquisition and Retention
In order for a business to grow, they must acquire and retain their customers. A business can continue to sell to their current customers, but without acquiring new customers, they become stagnant. Being a stagnant company is a telltale sign of eminent failure (Kumar, Pozza, Petersen & Shah, 2009). In addition, companies that only acquire new customers without retaining any of those same customers must put all of their focus into convincing someone to make a first and one-time purchase. Businesses start to grow when they give consumers a reason to make a second purchase, and a third, but continue to acquire new customers.
Discussion
Marketing is an expanding field very important to the growth of our economy. It is important that businesses can retain current customers while simultaneously adding new ones in order to have continuous and steady growth. This cannot be fully achieved when appealing to only emotion or logic. Emotions will get the sale, especially on smaller items, but these customers often experience buyer’s remorse. This is because they didn’t think about the decision enough before making it. Logic is another way to get sales, but alone it is often not enough to drive sales. When logic and emotion go together however, both sales and retention go up with it.
Future Research
There is a lot of research proving that marketing works best when combined with emotions and logic, however, the consumer market is constantly evolving. One of the most recent developments in marketing is the mobile market. The future of sales and marketing is becoming more and more mobile everyday, and as these changes occur we will see more marketing taking place on mobile devices. Thus far we have not seen many studies developed on how to effectively tap into the mobile market, but as this market continues to grow we will see more and more studies meant to find the best method for reaching mobile customers. In addition, the field of marketing is always expanding and adapting to its environment and demand of consumers. There will always be new studies proving the latest method of marketing because it changes so much.

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