Marketing research studies have given us at least some guidance as to when to use rational versus emotional advertising appeals. Do you adhere to what we know?
In my last post I introduced the topic of rational versus emotional advertising appeals. There is a lot of conflicting information on the subject. What type works best in increasing sales? As I said in my previous post…it depends.
Marketing research studies are typically very narrow in scope to control as many variables as possible, often focusing on a particular product, ad and audience. This makes it harder to make generalizations, but I’m going to try.
There is one large British study that did a retrospective look at 1,400 advertising campaigns and their impact on sales. Other than grouping them in dominant appeal (rational, emotional or both) there was no effort to break down the data to look at other variables.
If this research is valid, one can make one big generalization: Emotional appeals work twice as well as rational advertising appeals and are more effective than advertising appeals that combined the two.
The problem is that, without looking at other variables, such a conclusion may not help us in the real advertising world. Marketing involves advertising a specific product in a market to a specific audience who may or may not already be aware of the product type or have formed a positive or negative predisposition to the brand or product.
For this reason, I’m going to make some generalizations supported by advertising research as to when rational or emotional appeals should be used as part of the marketing campaign. The specific variables for which we can make them include:
- Market Maturity
- Predisposition
- Level of Involvement
Market Maturity: Market maturity refers to the relative age of a product or service to a particular market. A “new” market is where the product or service is new to the area while an “old” market is where the product or service has been in existence for some time.
Generalization One: Marketing research studies indicate that emotional advertising appeals (emotion-based ads) are more effective at influencing consumer behavior in older markets. In younger markets, rational advertising appeals (fact-based ads) are more effective.
The reasons are probably that in a new market consumers want to learn about the newly introduced product or service. In older markets they are used to hearing about or purchasing similar products or services and have tuned them out.
When markets are mature and brands are frequently purchased, consumers are no longer motivated to process information about products or brands.
The use of emotional ads can get their attention again and make them feel good about the product. This translates into increased sales.
Predisposition: Predisposition is a positive or negative “bias” created through exposure to a brand or product or information about it. Any newly acquired information will be “filtered” by this predisposition and will tend to either support or refute the new information.
Generalization Two: The more positive the predisposition, the more positive the response to either rational or emotional advertising appeals.
While this sounds very logical, it is important to see it bear out in research. Creating positive predispositions toward a brand should be an important part of any marketing strategy. It will increase the effectiveness of any subsequent advertising campaign, whether the ads have a rational appeal, emotional appeal or a combination of both.
Level of Involvement: The level of involvement reflects the effort of the consumer in the decision process prior to taking action. It is the level of thought involved in the purchase decision process.
High involvement reflects that the consumer is actively involved in acquiring enough information about the product or service to be comfortable in making the buying decision. Rational deliberation is taking place. High involvement is typically with higher priced goods or with product categories that have not been previously purchased.
Low involvement is typically with lower priced goods and with products frequently purchased. Not much thought is given to buying these products. They are more of an “impulse” buy.
Generalization Three: For high involvement decisions, rational advertising appeals have been shown to be more effective. For low involvement decisions, emotional advertising has been shown to be more effective.
That doesn’t mean that big ticket items don’t utilize emotional advertising appeals. Just look at the automobile advertising for example. When such advertising is utilized, the ad directs the consumer to where they can find more information that they need to help them make a buying decision.
Conclusion: Advertisers can achieve effective results with both rational and emotional advertising appeals. Each has its place in the marketing arsenal. The challenge is knowing which is right for the circumstances of your advertising campaign. To decide to use either rational or emotional advertising appeals, you must first know your customer and the relationship of your customer, market, brand and the specific product or service being advertised.
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