The Hatfields and the McCoys, Montagues and the Capulets, Captain America vs. Iron Man. History Is full of conflicts that have pitted one faction against the other in an epic battle over who said what to our Neville at the Christmas get-together. But few people talk about the age-old conflict between emotion and information in messaging. And it’s one of the most important elements of any communication, especially a marketing communication.
You may not know it, but you’ve undoubtedly seen the scars of this feud before. They’re there in the difference between that add that’s trying to tell you everything it can about a particular product, and the one that tugs at your heartstrings and makes you want to go save whales and be a part of something important—like rescuing underprivileged puppies.
Of course, the question most innocent bystanders are asking, as the smoke clears, is which should I be doing? Isn’t giving people all the information they need to make sure they know why my product is the best one for them what I should be doing? But wait, aren’t I supposed to be making them feel something about my product? Don’t I want them to care about what I stand for? Which end of the street should I be standing at?
And the truth is, the answer to that is complicated, that’s why the feud goes on. Some people are going to tell you to “give your audience all the information you can, facts are what persuade”. Others are going to tell you “No, make an emotional connection first. That builds relationships.” And then they start giving each other the eye and circling around, hand at hip, waiting to see who’s going to draw first.
So, what’s the secret? Who is right?
Well, before I can tell you that I’m going to show you an example. One that most people have heard of. One that helps illustrate a few things. In order for us to truly experience this example we will need to take a short trip back in time and space, to the fair city of Verona where we find two families living together in the same neighborhood, but at constant odds with each other. And those two families? Yep, you guessed it, the families Macintosh and Microsoft.
The family Macintosh grew up with the single idea of pleasing its audiences as its watchword. It was sleek and well designed, and it immediately attracted a following because of its crowd appeal. But what most people fail to take into account is the fact the family Macintosh was developed specifically to enhance the user experience. To do this it has intentionally reduced the number of features it makes available to its audiences. Less software, fewer ways to interact with their music, movies, and other media, things like that. It controls the user-experience by restricting the number of choices it makes available to its users. But, it has made those options sleek, sexy, and easy to use. So, even though there aren’t as many choices, it feels like a better user experience. It feels cool! And people love that. People want COOL! The family Macintosh delivers an emotionally charged experience to its users that’s easy for them to take advantage of, and they really love that.
And the family Microsoft? The family Microsoft are firm believers in giving the people access to all the information they need to do everything they want. Free and open access to all, even if most of them never use most of the options they have available to them. It’s not about that, it’s about making it all possible. More software, more ways to interact with their media, more games, more of everything, especially the flow of information. The family Microsoft has made openness and flexibility the hallmark of its value proposition.
So, here’s the thing to ask yourself as you consider the emotion versus information question, the thing that the Mac vs. PC phenomenon helps me illustrate. How do people respond to the two approaches? What decisions do people make when given these two options to choose from? How does the nature of their approach to those decisions differ?
Studies, numbers, research, tell us that numbers and facts persuade, and I’m not going to argue that—as you’ll see in a moment. But regardless of what’s logical, people keep returning to that thing that gives them the emotional return-on-investment that they need/want. I know people who will argue that information persuades while sitting next to their Mac laptop—which they have chosen instead of a PC because “they like macs”—demonstrating that the emotional still drives them. Information persuades, but it’s hard to beat the rush we get from COOL.
OK, what’s the secret? Which one do you choose? Emotion or Information?
The secret is, they’re both right. Emotion and information both have their place. Usually, you can use price point as one of the drivers for deciding which to concentrate on in your messaging. Another driver you can consider to help make your decision is where your audience is in the conversion funnel.
If your product is low cost and the audience can make a quick decision to buy, emotion is a good driver.
It gets trickier if your product costs a lot, and your audience typically takes a long time to make a buying decision. If your audience takes a long time to make a buying decision, they’ll need facts to help persuade them that they are making the right decision. But, even when they are making a decision that typically takes a long time to make, their initial emotional response to the products they are considering plays an important role in their decision process. I the case of long-term decision cycles like this, people usually decide to buy based on their initial emotional responses and then look for facts to persuade them they have chosen correctly—remember the lesson of the Macintoshes and the Microsofts. Effective messaging strategies for long-term decision cycles should feature emotional messaging at the top of the conversion funnel when audiences are making their initial contact with your product, followed by information that persuades the audience that they have made the correct choice further down the conversion funnel. Giving them the information they need to reinforce their decision after they have had a chance to make an emotional connection will leave a stronger impression that lasts longer.
And how do you know if you messaging is emotional or informational? That’s tricky too. Here are three quick tips that might help.
- The longer your marketing message is…
- If you’ve mentioned your name more than once in the first two or three paragraphs…
- If you’ve said, “You’ll enjoy/like/be excited by…” (or anything close)…
..the more chance it’s an information-based message.