How to Use Emotional Benefits in Marketing to Build Stronger Customer Connections

Think about your favorite brands. What makes them stand out? They are likely not only their products or services, but the way they make you feel. Maybe you find them comforting, nostalgic, or just a small something to break up your day. That’s the power of emotional benefits in marketing.

Traditional Marketing vs Emotional Benefits

In traditional marketing, you look at functional benefits: the features, usability, etc Emotional benefits are the intangible benefits you receive from your brand or product that can make your life better in some way or another. Companies that base their marketing on emotions are likely to have better customer relationships, loyalty, and sales.

In this post, we’ll look at what are emotional benefits in marketing, why they matter, and how you can introduce them into the marketing of your product or service.

Definition of Emotional Benefits in Advertising

Emotional benefits are vehicles for the answer to the question, “How is this product going to make people feel?” Functional benefits, which feature the material attributes of a product (e.g., “This phone holds 128GB”), are different from emotional benefits that center on how a product makes the buyer feel emotionally or fulfills a deeper psychological need (e.g., “Holding this phone makes me feel organized and powerful”).

For example:

Apple isn’t just in the business of selling laptops and phones; Apple sells a feeling, a vibe, a sense of creativity, a whiff of air toward innovation, a sensation of sophistication.
Coca-Cola is more than a beverage; it’s a feeling, a symbol of happiness and togetherness.
Nike isn’t in the business of selling shoes; it’s there to awaken a spirit of striving and ambition with a message, “Just Do It.”

Emotional Benefits in Marketing – Why They Make All the Difference

Stronger Brand Loyalty

Brands that connect on a personal level or evoke emotion, that’s what drives people to your brand. A “like,” happiness from an interaction or personal enjoyment, each has a greater impact than a rational decision, and will be the factor to facilitate continued engagement and loyalty.

Memorable Experiences

Emotional brands are those that resonate with you. A sense of wonder in response to a marketing campaign or experience is infinitely more powerful than any data-driven ad.

Differentiation in Crowded Markets

Competing products that offer similar functional attributes play on attributes (i.e., features, price, look, etc.). With the stacks even among competitors, emotional marketing can provide an edge by forging emotional connections that others can’t easily duplicate.

Encourages Word-of-Mouth Marketing

People are more inclined to share past experiences when they have an emotional connection to a brand, and thus become brand advocates.

Stat: Emotionally connected customers are worth the effort they require and then some: The average lifetime value of an emotionally connected customer is two to three times that of a highly satisfied customer, finds a Harvard Business Review study.

How to Use Emotional Benefits in Marketing

Learn Your Audience’s Emotional Drivers

Before you cook up a campaign that appeals to emotions, you need to know what your audience cherishes most.

What obstacles or annoyances do they encounter in their life or work?
What excites them, inspires them, makes them feel safe?
Do they have any particular values, goals, or cultural concepts that they have a strong sense of who they are said to be?

For example, For a skincare brand targeting millennials, the logical benefit could be the emotional reward of feeling good in one’s skin, or alleviating the pressure of having an elaborate skincare regimen.

Tip: Use tools like surveys, interviews, and social media listening to reveal the emotional motivations of your audience.

Tell Stories That Resonate

Storytelling is one of the most powerful levers for accessing emotional benefits. A well-told story places your audience in the heart of the story, teaching them how your product or service can have a place in their significant moments.

Feature authentic customer Stories or transformations.
Use images and copy that mirror emotions your audience understands – whether it be excitement, relaxation, or nostalgia.
Show how your brand solves problems in a human (not just a technical) sense.

Example: Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaigns told stories about women’s confidence and self-acceptance, not simply about how a soap worked.

Use Visual and Psychological Cues

Colors, images, fonts, and tone in which you communicate contribute to indirectly communicating those emotional benefits.

Good feelings are associated with warm colors, such as reds and yellows, which are energizing and represent optimism and passion.
More relaxed shades like blues and greens evoke a sense of calm, trust, and reliability, for example.
Strong imagery, real images and models, and even the right emotional appeal can help.

Create a Sense of Belonging

Psychological marketing frequently plays on the need we have as humans to belong. And companies that forge a sense of community or shared identity among their customers achieve loyalty that lasts.

Establish a brand voice that is inclusive and supportive.
Prompt clients to share their user-generated content with your product or service (e.g., through hashtags, testimonials, or reviews).
Provide experiences or opportunities that give customers a sense of belonging to something much larger than themselves.

Example: Patagonia leverages emotional appeal by espousing sustainability and informing consumers that when they wear its products, it feels as if they “are doing something for environment preservation.”

Match Your Brand with Values

For consumers to feel, well, something, your brand has to have a point of view that’s meaningful to them. Whether it is sustainability, inclusivity, adventure, or something else, find your values and nestle them into your messaging.

Tip: Consumers are more likely to establish an emotional connection with a business that supports social or environmental causes they believe in as well.

Use FOMO to Your Advantage

Indirectly create a sense of urgency or exclusivity in your communication, which makes people feel emotional (i.e., excited, curious).

Employ phrases like “limited-time,” “exclusive offer,” and “be one of the few.”
Feature regret-of-missing-out moments for potential customers that will evoke emotional reasons to act now.

Example: Airbnb capitalizes on FOMO in their marketing by image-searching idyllic homes and travel experiences that their audience could have.

Classic Combinations of Emotional Benefits at Work

Here are a few ways they’re using emotional marketing:

Automotive (e.g., Tesla): Highlighting freedom, creativity, and ecological conscience.
Tech (Apple, for example): Inspiring creativity, individuality, and offering simplicity.
Food & Beverage (Coca-Cola, etc.): Capability to design emotional experiences evoking joy, connectivity, or celebration.
Sports Apparel (For example, Nike): Aspiration, self-affirmation, and personal success.

Unlock Emotional Connection, Unlock Loyalty

Relying on emotional wins in the sales process will drive your brand relationship with your audience to new and deeper levels. But when you focus on how your product or service makes customers feel, not just what it does, you create passionate customers.

It’s enough of a switch from a focus on utility to one built on emotion that it could make all the difference in an AHL that seems to grow more competitive with every season.

To fully engage your audience, emotions must be supported by clear messaging. See how a marketing communication tool can help deliver emotionally resonant messages across channels.