Here’s why emotional marketing plays such a vital role during the holidays

The holiday season is fast approaching. Hot cocoa, warm fireplaces, kids smiling, time spent with loved ones — the holidays drum up a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings. And quite likely many of the feelings are due to savvy emotional marketing.

Emotional marketing targets our personal feelings and experiences. Using functional MRI scans, researchers found that that emotional response has a greater influence on intent to buy than ad content by a factor of 2-to-1 for print ads and 3-to-1 for TV ads.

Consulting firm Bain expects December sales alone this year to reach $800 billion, with companies will be competing fiercely for every dollar. Want to drive sales to your business? Be prepared to use emotional marketing.

Black Friday and Cyber Week sales illustrate the effects of time-limited promotions. Shoppers often line up outside stores before they open, and sometimes stampede to get the best deals. Psychologists note that shoppers suffer from anticipatory regret or the “fear of missing out.”

Adobe Analytics found that Cyber Week sales, which includes the days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, topped $34 billion in 2020. Anticipatory regret helps explain the impulse, but that wasn’t the only psychological tactic at play.

Marketers also attempt to drive “shopping momentum.” Once you purchase one product at a store, you’re likely to purchase other products. A shopper might stop by your store for a particular item on sale. While there, the shopper may pick up other goods. This is why many retailers use loss leaders, or products sold at a loss, to drive in customers.

Limited supply may also increase already high demand. Back in 1996, shortages of Tickle-Me-Elmo dolls led to a shopping craze. This year, X-Box and Playstation game consoles may be hard to come by due to global chip shortages and high demand.