You buy diamonds the same way you buy toothpaste.

Be it Crest or carats, emotion factors into every purchase you make, and the success or failure of every brand and retailer

If you think you make totally rational decisions about anything you buy, think again.

We like to think of ourselves as rational decision makers who weigh price/value comparisons, do our internet research, consult Wirecutter and Amazon reviews, talk to friends, and then make smart, totally objective decisions, right?

Nope.

If you had a retail therapist, you’d be asked, “How does that purchase make you feel?”

Sure, buying an engagement ring is loaded with emotion. But my 7th purchase of the same toothpaste on Amazon Subscribe & Save?

Now that my imaginary retail therapist is forcing me to think about this, I have to confess to lots of feelings—maybe even some smugness:

• Smarter because I’m getting Amazon’s Subscribe & Save discount.

• Smarter because I’m saving shipping costs with Amazon Prime.

• More efficient because I also use the “set it and forget it” function on Walmart Subscribe for a supplement I buy.

• Smarter for saving brick & mortar shopping-time with every Amazon or Walmart.com purchase.

• Smarter than other people who DON’T do this, waste money, and help pay for my discounts—ha!

Retail therapist: “OK, smart-ass…do you ever feel BAD or GUILTY about this?”

You’re really making me go there, huh? OK…

• I just noticed I answered “smarter” above, not “smart”…smarter than who?

  • My younger, dumber self?

  • Other people I think I’m BETTER than? Smug, maybe?

• I’m addicted to Amazon but can’t stop/won’t stop.

• I hate adding to Amazon’s profits, but I keep buying.

• I bet only a tiny fraction of all that packaging will ever be recycled. Not cool.

• All that gas/fuel burned in Amazon deliveries for a $10 item? Also not cool.

• I bet those cheap Amazon purchases I return through Staples and Whole Foods will never get recycled or returned.

  

Promises made, promises kept—and promises broken

Let’s go upstream of my guilt and try to better understand some emotional dynamics of buying and selling.

If you keep buying that toothpaste, from whatever retailer you’re ordering from, the brand and the retailer have each promised you something over time that they’ve delivered on—a promise you’ve come to trust.

And that is what a brand is, whether it’s a retailer or a product: a promise.

If the promise is kept, you trust it, you keep buying it, and your brand loyalty may strengthen over time.

Think about it: it’s not “brand addiction” or “brand tolerance.” Brand loyalty is about the emotional feedback loop you’re in that gives the L-Word its sticky satisfaction, and what makes for sustained brand profitability.

If that brand promise is ever broken, we usually don’t complete a Purchase Pros & Cons spreadsheet, or a Competitive Benefit Analysis to decide what brand you’ll likely switch to.

That’s because our likely response to a broken promise is probably emotional, not rational: anger, followed by shame and embarrassment:

• They ripped me off.

• I was stupid to fall for that come-on.

• This thing’s a joke—it’ll never work.

• It’s broken…now I gotta return it.

• Those positive reviews were clearly fake.

• I got cheap, and should have realized “you get what you pay for.”

Not a rational response in the bunch.

If you’re a brand, keeping promises is a LOT cheaper than breaking them

Acquiring new customers costs anywhere from 3X-7X what it costs to retain existing customers.

Since there’s always a cheaper option to most everything you buy or sell, your brand has to have an added set of credible emotional benefits to layer over the rational product delivery—otherwise, we’d all just shop at my new retail chain:

”Generics ‘R Us! Because Thinking Is Exhausting, and Branding Is Bogus!”

Loyalty is the holy grail of brands

Keeping your customers happy pays off. And since your customer retention investment is so much less than your acquisition costs, the more loyalists you satisfy, the better their “lifetime value” is to your brand, and the more sustainable your bottom line will be. And your fiercest loyalists will likely be your more authentic (and unpaid!) influencers.

But is brand loyalty just emotional wrapping paper over a rational purchase?

If your customer satisfaction is superficial, maybe. But if you “deliver the goods,” some nice emotional wrapping around the actual product benefits isn’t so bad.

Think about the promise of that insanely beautiful, original gift wrapping over a birthday present you got—didn’t that add to the experience? And didn’t that help leave behind a promise of ANOTHER great gift from that gift-giver?

That brand wrapping paper could be a helpful customer service response, or great customer service in your retail locations. Long term, that can cost less than what’s inside the box, and can make a big difference in customer satisfaction.

But let’s bring it back to YOU and your shopping behavior: Maybe that emotional wrapper is actually “an emotional excuse to buy something you don’t need.”

Hmmm…

Which gets us back to what your loyalty says about YOU

Your purchase motivations and brand loyalty say something about you, whether it’s what you buy or how you buy it. Maybe it’s a core value you cherish. Maybe it’s a connection to a community you want to be a part of. Maybe it’s a status symbol, or the opposite: a frugality flag you like to wave.

Regardless of your motivations, your brand loyalty is a message to others and to yourself that makes you feel good (assuming it’s not an addictive substance you’re trying to NOT buy or use…)

Retail therapist: “Let’s now unpack your shopping behavior.” (I was hoping you wouldn’t ask…)

Hey, I gave you my e-commerce confessions—it’s your turn for self-inspection: Let’s diagnose your shopping behavior and how you make a purchase, and why.

You’ll probably find insights, motivations and social influences you weren’t initially aware of—or even admire in yourself.

You’ll also likely learn that your “path to purchase” is often a switch-backing, non-linear, irrational stumble toward a less than perfect purchase.

Don’t worry—you have lots of company. As in, “everybody”

Here’s how I blocked out a product decision path for a client recently, and the importance of compelling brand storytelling. I included a mention of my friend Jim Lecinski’s “ZMOT” thesis from 2011—that “Zero Moment Of Truth” when we’re at the shelf, in a store or online, making that final purchase decision…or not.

You’ll see emotional and non-linear behavior running through all of this:

14 years later, Jim’s original ZMOT white paper holds up well—this summary on page 22 is still remarkably current:

Now I’ll ask YOU: “How does all this make you feel?”

If you’re a marketer, and all this makes you feel like you need help understanding your consumers’ motivations, or help improving your brand proposition and promise, I can help.

I also have tools to help you think out the balance of emotional and rational drivers in your brand positioning and marketing communications.

If I’ve made you think, or even made you feel anxious, I can help. Just reach out.

Or maybe we can just go shopping together.