Why should you make emotional connections with your customers?

Well, for one, people make purchasing decisions based on emotions. The more a customer can associate your brand with positive emotions the greater the chances they will buy from you.

…Focusing on the customer, not the competition brought us over 1 million new signups in a year (Source)

Of course, it works.

But let’s find out why you should also do the same.

Different studies have shown that average consumers have huge resentments for digital ads. In one study, 91% of the people say that ads today are more intrusive than 2-3 years ago.

Of course, they are not just intrusive, they are also disruptive and annoying.

And a study shows that only 8% of internet users account for 85% of clicks on display ads and the average click rate for display ads is only 0.1%. 

This means that businesses seeking to survive the resentments must find a way to get into the hearts of their customers.

Well, this could be quite daunting but for the smart businesses, it is not a big deal.

So, in this article, I will walk you through how some of them are doing this.

You will learn what emotional branding is and how you can leverage it to connect people emotionally to your brand.

If this is what you want, then let’s get started.

First, what is emotional branding?

In a nutshell, emotional branding is an aspect of marketing that tends to connect people to brands, develop meaningful relationships them and then inspire a loyal following.

This type of marketing is meant to humanize a brand to attract the appropriate audiences.

The truth is consumers associate with brands they feel reflect their identity and share their values and according to Aira Bongco these emotional connections are necessary to convince them to buy.

Chances are that you are operating in an industry with some level of competition but how would you stand out?

Well, continue reading.

6 incredible ways to make emotional connections with your customers

A study shows that customers who are fully connected emotionally to a particular brand are 52% more valuable to brands than highly satisfied customers.

This means that emotional marketing is no longer an option.

Thankfully, this article has profiled 6 incredible ways you can get started without going insane.

So, let’s dive in.

First, build an immersive identity

The step starts with creating an identity that is inspiring, immersive, memorable and one that resonates deeply with the customers.

Of course, this goes beyond designing shiny logos and other corporate artefacts. This identity should be reflected in the organisational culture, in their values and outlook.

This is because as I pointed out earlier, consumers associate with brands they feel reflect their identity and share their values.

These values could be:

• the customers’ desire for quality service
• the desire to be listened to, shown respect and treated like a human
• strong organisational ethics and integrity
• the willingness of the organisation to always meet their demands promptly
• their love for the same social cause.

Whatever it is, the truth is customers love to relate with brands they perceive share the same values with them.

So, build an identity that reflects those values and don’t forget to thank me later.

Create compelling stories

People connect with one another when they know their stories

Kristin Savage

Of course, this is why storytelling is so impactful when it comes to building connections and driving customers’ engagements.

In a recent study, 72% of marketers say content marketing increases engagement.

Another study by Demand Metric shows that it generates about 3 times as many leads and costs 62% less than traditional marketing.

The truth is people love stories and telling good stories is one of the easiest ways to influence people.

In an era where almost everyone claims to be a good storyteller, this might appear quite simple on paper.

But honestly, creating brand stories that connect people to brands and drive bottom-line could be difficult beyond any stretch of the imagination.

However, you can get started by identifying what your customers want, what their pain points are and how and when they want to be reached.

Then put efforts at creating content that would address these without boring them to death.

The pieces should focus on the customer as the main character and then your brand as a helpful friend that is there to advise and help them to achieve their goals.

Use great images and videos to bring those stories to life.

RELATED ARTICLE: Is It a Good Idea to Start Blogging for Your Small Business?

Give delightful customers’ experience

Excellent customer service cannot happen if excellent customer service environment is no embedded into the organisation’s most dominant culture

This has always been my favourite customer service quote for years and I don’t see any displacing it for now.

A study by Temkin Group found that a moderate increase in customer experience generates an average revenue increase of $823 million over three years for a company with $1 billion in annual revenue.

According to another study, millennials as a group are willing to spend an additional 21% for great customer care.

The truth is customers today are not just interested in getting values for their businesses.

They also want to be treated with respect, they want to feel that the brand value them and they want to see the brand go extra miles for them.

A study shows that 33% of Americans says they will consider switching companies after just a single instance of poor service and will tell an average of 15 persons about poor service.

So, create an environment that inspires delightful customers’ experience.

Get social and be sociable

Marketing today has evolved to become trust-based and self-directed and there is no better way to build a relationship and gain customers’ loyalty than using social media.

Of course, with over 3 billion active social media users spending an average of 142 minutes per day, social networks provide a veritable platform for brands to initiate and have meaningful conversations with their customers.

A study shows that 77% of Twitter users feel more positive about a brand when their tweet has been replied.

A survey by Twitter found that 54% of users had taken actions like visiting a brand’s website, searching for them or retweeting content after seeing a brand mentioned in a tweet.

Another study revealed that 71% of consumers who have a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend the brand to family and friends.

This means that social media can also drive referrals or word-of-mouth advertising.

So, for businesses that are interested in building an emotional connection with customers, having a social media presence is not an option.

RELATED ARTICLE: Best Social media networks for small businesses

Leverage thought leadership

Why does this matter?

A study by Linkedin and Edelma revealed that 60% of business decision-makers said that thought leadership directly led to their awarding of business to an organization.

They also admitted to buying a product or service they were not previously considering.

The same study revealed that more than 55% of the decision-makers said that they had increased business with an organization based on their thought leadership.

In a separate study, Edelma revealed that thought leadership helps about 83% of buyers to build their trust in an organization.

I am sure you have gotten the point now.

Thankfully, this article compiled 5 ways you can brand your business as a thought leader.

It won’t hurt checking it out.

Identify with social causes that interest your customers

A recent study shows that 71% of US millennials hope companies will take the lead on the social issues that they find important.

Another study reveals that 40% of consumers seek purposeful brands and trust brands to act in the best interest of society.

The truth is people expect businesses to take up social responsibilities, identify with a social cause and invest in the general well-being of the society.

I will digress with a little story.

Around the 1950s the marketing orientation of firms crystallized into what is known as the marketing concept; the belief that organisations should focus on delivering products that the market wants.

The concept evolved from what was known as the production concept. This concept holds that consumers will prefer products that are widely available and inexpensive.

As a result, a lot of production-oriented firms dabbled into mass productions.

But before the orientation evolved to marketing around the 1950s, firms’ orientations had previously evolved to what was known as the product concept and then to the selling concept.  

The product-oriented firms focused their energies at improving products’ features while the selling concept holds that aggressive selling and promotion efforts are necessary to sell any product.

As a result, businesses aimed at selling what they make rather than producing what the market wants.

But today, marketing has evolved into a new orientation known as societal marketing. It holds that in addition to the marketing concept, businesses must be conducted in a way that enhances the society’s well-being.

This new orientation places some social responsibilities on businesses.

And brands that do these communicate that they understand what’s important to their audience and people are comfortable with companies that share their values.

In conclusion

Building emotional connections with customers could be difficult but certainly, it is not impossible.

The secret lies in having a plan, knowing who your customers are, identifying what they want and going the extra miles for them.

And of course, having a little patience.

You can get started by following the tips we outlined above and don’t forget that consistency is the key.

Share with us any other tip(s) that you have and kindly share this article to your friends.

I will be super grateful.