Using Emotion to Engage Alcoholic Beverage Consumers

All the purchases consumers make are a mix of rational (e.g., price, reliability, warranty) and emotional (e.g., envy, pride, fear, love) factors.Every decision we make, even when selecting a pharmacy to fill a prescription, is based on emotion. If there are at least a few pharmacies in the area where we can get a subscription filled, and if the costs to do so are similar, there is at least one emotion that is influencing our decision: how the pharmacist explains how to administer the medication properly, how comfortable we feel with walking through the store to the pharmacy, the trust we have in the pharmacy technician who fills the order and hands us the bag with our prescription. And we may not even realize that these instances or encounters contribute to our purchasing decision, as "95 percent of our purchasing decision-making takes place in the subconscious mind."

Regardless of the product, business, or industry, 64% of women and 68% of men have "felt emotional connections with a brand or business." The top three reasons "people give for their emotional brand connections" are that the brand "make[s] them feel":

• Like they care about people like me, 65%
• Like they are making a positive difference in the world, 55%
• Like they get me, 45%

Source: CustomerThermometer

Why emotion matters

Several studies have revealed how an emotional connection can influence consumer purchasing. According to Pringle and Field, who wrote the book "Brand Immortality," advertising campaigns with emotional content were more effective than those with only rational content or a mix of emotional and rational content. Based on data from several marketing case studies, 31% of brands reported "very large profit gains" when content was "purely emotional," while only 26% reported the same if the message was a mix of emotional and rational content, and only 16% if the content was "purely rational."

To demonstrate this point, read the following tagline. Are you able to quickly fill in the blanks without much effort?

"Love. It's what makes a (blank), a (blank)."

If you watch enough commercials or tend to pay attention to social media ads, you most likely have heard this phrase and can insert the car brand "Subaru" into each blank.

While the brand was introduced in the U.S. in 1958, it was not until after 2008 that a "sales boom" was attributed to this tagline and the change in "ad campaigns from traditional rational ones to emotional ones." Whether it is a father looking at his teenage daughter as she climbs into the driver's seat and sees her as a toddler, a family on a getaway, or reminiscing about past road trips in the vehicle, these commercials "focus more on the emotional, tug-at-your-heartstrings" message than one that describes the car's features and functions.

A majority of "high" emotionally engaged consumers (82%) "always buy the brand they are loyal to" compared to those with "low emotional engagement" (38%).Even if there is a significant price difference, consumers who are highly engaged with businesses and brands emotionally will continue to choose to shop with them or buy their goods and services.

Again, referring to Subaru, it is not difficult to find an article that describes how loyal Subaru owners areto the brand and a statistic that indicates a willingness to buy another in the future.

Emotionally connected consumers have a higher lifetime value and are more likely to recommend brands than customers "highly satisfied, or even those who perceive a brand to be differentiated." Compared to "highly satisfied, but not fully connected" customers, those who perceive that one brand is different from another are "satisfied, but not fully connected" and are 13% more valuable.Those who are "fully connected and satisfied, and able to perceive brand differentiation" are 52% more valuable. These consumers:

• Buy more
• Visit more often
• Care less about price
• Pay more attention to your messaging
• Refer friends and family

To round out the Subaru example and how focusing on emotion has benefited the brand greatly, not only will you find official Subaru accounts on social media, like Instagram (e.g., @subaru_usa), but accounts that loyal fans have created and contributed to, for example, @subarulovers, @eatsleepsubaru.

More recently, brands, including The North Face, have explored conveying emotion to appeal to target audiences, whether they are existing customers or "young trendsetters" who "are expecting brands to be almost human, to be personal, to apologize and be real." One way to do so, besides being "aspirational and beautiful," is "to show emotion."

Learning about emotions and how to use them to connect with consumers effectively is essential to understand, regardless of the business life cycle stage. According to Gerlad Zaltman, who wrote the book "How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market":

One firm with a very "tired" brand explored consumers' hidden thoughts and feelings and discovered a relevant, basic emotion that had been overlooked by all brands in the category. They were able to connect this emotion with their brand giving it a major sales boost.

Infusing your brand's story with emotion

Developing and promoting your brand's "story" is an opportunity for you to inform customers about how your brand differs from your competitors, whether it be "who" you are, "why" you do what you do, "who you serve," or the "problems you solve," or all of these (and more). For more information, read:Telling Your Story.

"Who" You Are

"People do business with people, not companies"

--Rory Vader

Source:People do business with people, not companies

While some consumers look for a listing of accolades and awards you have received over time, consider telling the story of the "actual person" behind the brand. When said in a way like a person's actual journal rather than a list of facts and figures (e.g., production volume), the listener is more likely to remember more details about you and your business. "Stories that are personal and emotionally compelling engage more of the brain, and thus are better remembered, than simply stating a set of facts."

A story must do two things: "capture and hold our attention…[and] "transport" us into the characters' world." This act of "transportation" can occur "[o]nce a story has sustained our attention long enough, [after which] we may begin to emotionally resonate with [the] story's characters."

The following example is based on a wine business in Marlboro, New Zealand. You may already know a bit about Marlboro, for instance, that "70% of the entire New Zealand wine production" takes place in the region, approximately ¾ of the wine produced in the region is Sauvignon Blanc, and that, as of 2022, there 27 cellar doors, with 24 located in an area roughly 15 km x 10 km (9 miles x 6 miles) that include Renwick and Blenheim, N.Z., as well as other smaller towns and settlements.

One of the wineries in the Marlboro region is Hunter's Wines.The vineyards were established in 1979 by Irishman Ernie Hunter. Soon after, the winery was built in 1982 and now produces approximately 100,000 cases on over 80 hectares, "2014 marked Hunter's Wines 30^th vintage," thus they have been making wine for nearly forty years.They have won several national and international competitions, The Sunday Times Vintage Festival in the U.K. in 1986, and Jane Hunter, managing director since 1987, is referred to as the "First Lady ofNew Zealand wine" and was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in 2019. You can find their wines in "more than 28 countries."

While I just provided you with several statistics, the likelihood that you will remember these facts is probably low.In addition, I only focused on the "geographic region" and the "business," not the "people," with whom, according to the quote above, is who we do business.

Though I selected what you read, I can find several examples of winery websites, back labels on wine bottles, etc., that contain just facts and are completely void of any description of who they are – and their story, either due to being humble or just not knowing the importance of doing so.

Let me add to the information I presented above with some of Hunter's Wines story in hopes that you will see how the addition of more personal information about the founder, the family, and how they have evolved transforms the idea of a business making wine into a person, or group of people, who have a personality, and that we can almost visualize them working in the field, bottling, greeting people in the tasting room, etc.

The commercial wine industry was established in Marlborough, New Zealand, in the early 1970s.Sheep, not vines, mainly occupied the land. Among the pioneers in the industry, Ernie Hunter, who immigrated to New Zealand from Ireland, started Hunter's Wines in 1979. Ernie's wines began winning national and international competitions within a few years, including The Sunday Times Vintage Festival in the U.K. in 1986. Along with his wife viticulturist wife, Jane (the two were married in 1984), the pair created a brand concerned with maintaining their stake as a family-owned operation whose "passion is making quality wines that are synonymous with quality and innovation." Despite Ernie's tragic passing in 1987, Jane continued to add awards to the company's list of accolades and receive honors, along with family members, including her brother-in-law and two nephews. To this day, "Hunter's is the only Marlborough vineyard established in the 1970s to still be owned by its original family."

I used information from their website and other online sources in both descriptions.Though they describe their business in more detail and with a stronger emotional appeal on their website than I did, I presented roughly the same number of facts in both examples.Still, the second example should connect with you a bit more on a personal level.While both mention the main characters, Ernie and Jane Hunter, the information and tone in the second example hopefully "captured" your attention and "transported" you into their "world," based on the criteria above.Also, the Hunter's Wines "story" and how they focus on their "family" is not hidden at the bottom of their website or challenging to find in a list of information in a menu on the site. Instead, these sentiments are weaved through nearly every page on their website, demonstrating their true significance.

Clearly Describe Your "Why," a.k.a. Your Purpose

"Emotional branding is the process of forming a relationship between a consumer and a product or brand by provoking their emotions."

Source:What is Emotional Branding and How to Use it Effectively

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of "finding your why" or your sense of purpose, you can find several articles, podcasts, TED talks, and the like online that feature Simon Sinek, who has books such as "Start with Why," "Find Your Why," and "Leaders Eat Last."

A person who discovers their "why" learns what inspires them based on things that happened in the past, which, when articulated well, inspires others they interact with. While the author presents his case that organizations and companies can easily articulate "how" they do it ("specific actions") and "what" they do ("the result of why"), we must go through a process to "clearly articulate why they do what they do."

An example of a wine business that has defined its why, how, and what is Yealands Wine, a New Zealand brand established on August 8, 2008, becoming "the first winery in the world to be Toitū carbonzero certified from inception." Throughout their touchpoints, website, social media, tasting room, etc., they weave the thread of their "why," which is sustainability.

From their vision, which "is to push boundaries, think innovatively and to produce some of the most exceptional, and sustainable, wine around," the brand is based on the founder's "why." Based on his biography, "A Bloke for All Seasons: The Peter Yealands Story," he has a "profound love of the land" (Percy, T., 2012, pg. 12). While he has "become a convert to sustainability…we should leave behind a good place for our children and grandchildren" (Percy, T., 2012, pg.17).

The "how," which includes using solar panels and wind turbines to generate power, burning vine prunings in "specially built burners to create energy for heating water and glycol in the winery," using sheep to reduce grass and weeds in the vineyard, and devoting land to restoring vegetation, has produced the following "whats": their solar panels produce "15% of the power needed to run [the] winery," they have developed "twenty-five wetlands," and make "available $50,000 every year for local environmental projects,"

Make it known that you provide your target market with solutions to their problems

All industries deal with the fact that there are barriers, real and perceived, that prevent consumers from trying a product or having a successful experience. Issues consumers may have, also referred to as "pain points," are the "specific problem[s] your customer or prospect experiences during all the interactions across different touchpoints."

One way to define pain points is to go through the process of developing a customer journey mapping experience. As discussed in the article, Winery Tasting Room Customer Journey Mapping, customer journey maps must be designed for specific consumer personas (e.g., who they are, their wine interests, with whom they drink wine, and when). During this exercise, it is necessary to conduct surveys, focus group sessions, capture post-purchase feedback, etc., to identify your core customers, develop a complete profile about each consumer group, and discover pain points, whether real or perceived and address them. A brief discussion of the four main pain points: productivity, financial, process, and service, follows, with examples of problems and solutions.

Productivity pain points

Productivity pain points involve consumers "spending too much time on a task" and helping customers succeed in "considerably less time" to achieve a desired outcome.

• Problem: Your customers spend a fair amount of time deciding what wine to purchase and serve with a particular meal.They become overwhelmed and further confused when presented with vague pairing suggestions, such as wine x pairs well with "red meat."
• Potential solution: Make it apparent on your website, in social media posts, on back wine labels, etc., how to select a wine based on the type of meat, for example, how the meat is seasoned, the cooking method used, etc.

Financial pain points

Financial pain points involve consumers "spending too much money on a product, service, or tax." If you identify consumer segments with this pain point, your goal should be to help them "cut down on costs without making any sacrifices."

• Problem: Some customers enjoy your premium wines but cannot purchase bottles as frequently as they want because of the price point.
• Potential solution: While lowering the price of your wine is probably not a realistic option, how can you offer these consumers the experience of enjoying the wine without buying the bottle? Could you offer a 375 mL bottle or sell the wine by the glass on select occasions so as not to exhaust the supply that you have and be able to satisfy the demand for 750 mL bottle sales?

Process pain points

Process pain points that make consumers "inefficient." Whatever you can do to prevent consumers from becoming frustrated during a process, like placing an online order, the more likely you are to turn them into repeat customers.

• Problem: Consumers access your website but feel that signing up for your e-newsletter, registering for your wine club, placing an order, or filling out a contact form to ask a question is quite involved and that you are asking for more information than necessary.
• Potential solution: See if there is any way to streamline the process by linking as many of these activities as possible so customers can check past orders (both online and on-premises) along with what they have received (and will receive in upcoming shipments) so that they have a complete list of the wines they have purchased from you – and through an online portal that they can quickly check themselves.

Go through the purchasing process on your website and identify any barriers that prevent you from completing the purchases efficiently (see Customer Journey Mapping) and fix the issues immediately to reduce your site's shopping cart abandonment rate. In 2022, one source indicated that "almost 7 out of 10 website visitors who put an item in their virtual shopping cart will leave without completing their purchase."

While 48% of consumers abandoned their shopping cart due to "extras cost too high (shipping, tax, fees), those associated with "inefficacy" are:

• 24% left their cart because "the site wanted me to create an account"
• 17% "too long/complicated checkout process"
• 16% "I couldn't see/calculate total order cost up-front"
• 13% "Website had errors/crashed"

Support pain points

Support pain points occur when customers feel like, before, during, or after a purchase or inquiry, that their needs have not been met – and if you can't help them, they will find another wine business that will.

• Problem: Consumers have questions about wine following their purchase and do not know how to contact you for help, search your website but do not see information that could help them, etc.
• Potential solution: Make it possible for consumers to easily find your contact information on your website, social media platforms, etc. Consider how consumers are likely to contact you for help. Would they prefer to call, email, text, chat, or communicate on Facebook, Instagram, etc.?

According to a report published by Statista, in 2022:

• 64% of U.S. consumers preferred to "contact brands" via email
• Less than half, 47%, selected "website/application chat"
• Roughly a third preferred social media, 36%, and a phone call, 30%

Should you list your email address on your website, use a contact form, or both? While collecting inquiries using a contact form may reduce the amount of spam you get at the address you list, listing your email address gives the consumer a sense of a more "personal connection" and a resource to refer to if they want to send an email message age in the future directly from their inbox.

Another pain point: Do you track how long a customer must wait for an answer they submit through the various communication channels? Are you meeting, or exceeding, what the general consumer population feels is acceptable?

According to a 2020 survey, 28% of U.S. respondents expect a business to "respond to an email" "in one hour or less."

• When segmented by region, a slightly higher percentage of those in the Northeast, 33%, expected a response within an hour than the other U.S. regions.
• There were also differences based on age range.At least 35% of participants aged 45 and older expected a response within an hour, followed by 33% of those 18 to 24 years, compared to those between ages 25 and 44, which was approximately 29%.

For social media platforms, which customers are turning to more frequently for customer service, in general, 13% of U.S. consumers expect a response in "less than 1 hour," 22% between "1-2 hours," and another 22% between "2-12hours."

If you have successfully collected data, developed the personas, and identified pain points, the next step is communicating your understanding and presenting solutions.

One example of a brand that has successfully described a consumer persona, defined pain points, and conveyed how their brand "is a good fit" is JNSQ, "a superlative new wine made from select California grapes and crafted in the style of the best French Rosés" – "a California wine with a French accent."

In 2019, The Wonderful Company developed the brand to appeal to a specific consumer: a female millennial whose wine preference "shifted towardrosé and sauvignon blanc…[with an] appreciation for quality, craftsmanship and functional beauty." She is celebrating milestones in her "blossoming and exhilarating" life."

Let's first start with the bottle. While the Sauvignon Blanc is currently unavailable, the company sold both varietals in "ornate packaging [that] was inspired by vintage luxury perfume bottles, created by a French glass designer and features resealable glass stoppers for reusability."

The unique design will likely cause someone passing through a liquor store, scrolling through social media, or flipping through a magazine to pause and look and, perhaps, make a purchase. We know from research that extrinsic factors can significantly influence consumers to select a bottle for purchase, with four out of five consumers stating, "They had previously purchased wine primarily based on what the label or bottle looks like."

Aside from the bottle, the images and text used in the promotions further help us visualize the target consumer. Stylish women on a train enjoying the countryside view, relaxing by a lake or ocean that borders a rather posh-looking cityscape, or out for a picnic, surrounded by gardens and a popular fashion magazine. With just this brief introduction, I am sure that you "see" how this brand has thought through:

• Who she is, her wine consumption and purchasing behaviors, what it is about wine that appeals to them, how they want to feel drinking the wine, etc., and that, "She's got a certain je ne said quoi," "something (such as an appealing quality) that cannot be adequately described or expressed."

Again, considering the target consumer's persona, based on how the brand is portrayed online, the following can serve as solutions to the four pain points.

An example: JNSQ

Productivity pain point/solution

For consumers in the target market who have less experience with wine pairings, the JNSQ website offers pair suggestions that provide a bit of direction:

Financial pain point/solution

While the 750mL bottle of Rosé Cur is $29.00, there is a subscription option and a free shipping offer with a minimum purchase.

In addition, a 350mL "petite" Rosé Cru is available for $18 a bottle.

Process pain point/solution

The purchasing process is streamlined (just a few pages to click through, an account is not required to make a purchase), includes an option to subscribe to the newsletter, suggests accessories (e.g., glasses) at checkout, customers see the price for shipping, taxes, and the total before entering a form of payment, etc.

Support pain point/solution

Customers will find an email address and a contact form, with minimal information required to submit to ask a question and a telephone number.

This article is just a part of what you should consider when considering emotion and using feelings to communicate with and connect with consumers. In the next installment, the discussion will continue with:

• Conveying emotion in social media content.
• How adding emotional language can influence liking and willingness to pay.

Resource

Percy, T. (2012). A bloke for all seasons: the Peter Yealands story. Wily Pub., New Zealand