Consumer Behavior: Emotions, Marketing, and Purchasing Impulses

This essay delves into the significant influence of emotions on consumer purchasing behavior, contrasting it with the traditional reliance on rational thought processes. It explores how marketing experts leverage emotional triggers to drive buying impulses, supported by the rise of big data analytics. The essay highlights the role of intangible factors like brand perception and the 'feel-good factor,' particularly in products where tangible advantages are similar. It examines the effectiveness of storytelling and narrative building around products to generate positive emotions, ultimately suggesting that emotional engagement is crucial in influencing consumer decisions, even more so than rational data. The essay references various studies and articles to support its arguments and concludes with a hypothesis that the inclusion of a story is more effective than rational data in creating a positive impact on the consumer's mind.

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Emotions as the generator of an Impulse for purchasing
The study of the consumer behavior has reached its zenith with the arrival of big data facilities
where the marketing experts and the experts of human psychology are processing and studying
the reasons behind the buying impulses that are forcing an individual to buy a product (Fang,
2014). Advertisers and promoters of the products are ready to spend billions of dollars to figure
out the main trigger point behind a buying impulse. Some experts believe that the majority of the
customers apply rational thought processes prior to making a purchase. While employing this
rational thought process they took resort in their past experiences, feedback of the others, value
for money prospects associated with the product and the utility of the product in the life of the
customers. The knowledge economy driven marketing campaigns are trying hard to cater the
logical faculties of the brain and thought processes to inflict a purchasing decision in the mind of
a person, however, many experts believe that sequence of attracting logos, ethos, and pathos
cannot be denied in this process, information can only satisfy the “logos” area of the human
perception and emotions are necessary to appeal the rest of the two faculties (Hill, 2019).
This second school of thought on the same issue suggests that apart from the logical faculty
emotions also play a crucial role in the buying decision. Advertising history of the world presents
many examples in front of us where intangible factors like “brand perception,” “feel-good
factor” and “visual persuasion” helped many individuals in making a buying decision. Products
like carbonated drinks and ornaments, fashion apparels are poignant examples of this trend. The
role of emotions becomes in the cases when an individual compares two products that are of
similar nature and technical denominations (Parsons, 2019). It has been seen that sometimes
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tangible advantages like price factors become secondary and emotions take a center stage to act
as the causative factor behind a purchase. In order to create a cumulative impact of the emotions
in the mind of a customer, companies, and advertising agencies are now taking a resort in the
building up narratives around the products and the services. Most of the experts in the field of
advertising agree to the fact that celebrity endorsements and other such attempts to weave a
narrative around the product certainly helps a product in gaining the attention of the customers,
however, their role in the final purchase decision is under scrutiny (Noel, 2013).
This riddle can be solved with the help of a hypothesis where the segregated impact of all the
factors can be studied, the worth of rationality, value for money prospects and the need for the
addition of a narrative with the main text of the product can be adjudged. This hypothesis goes as
under.
The inclusion of a story with the product is more effective in comparison with rational data
denoting the profit of the deal to bring a positive impact in the mind of a customer. The inclusion
of a story appeals to the generation of the positive emotions about the product and in the absence
of positive emotion the chances of a “purchase decision” fall drastically.
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References
Fang, Z. (2014). The Mechanism of “Big Data” Impact on Consumer Behavior. American Journal
of Industrial and Business Management,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276494999_The_Mechanism_of_Big_Data_I
mpact_on_Consumer_Behavior.
Hill, J. (2019). Logos, ethos, pathos and the marketing of higher education. Journal of Marketing
for Higher Education,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337160418_Logos_ethos_pathos_and_the_
marketing_of_higher_education.
Noel, P. (2013). How Emotions Influence What We Buy. Psychology Today,
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inside-the-consumer-mind/201302/how-
emotions-influence-what-we-buy.
Parsons, E. (2019). Ethos, Pathos & Logos: Why Emotional Marketing is King. Bold Think,
https://boldthinkcreative.com/ethos-pathos-logos-why-emotional-marketing-is-king/.
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