Creating a cycle of influence
Human emotions are at the heart of every consumer decision, often driving choices more powerfully than logic or reason. Since emotions are faster and more instinctive than rational thought, they play a key role in shaping how consumers interpret a brand’s identity, personality, and values.
Colours trigger specific subconscious feelings, perhaps it’s the millions of years of evolution, perhaps it’s the thousands of years of conditioning though advertising, but almost everyone will associate the same ideas with the same colours. If there is blue in a logo or brand identity, you know that brand will do all it can to secure your trust. If you see orange, you know you’re in store for a rebel.
Compelling brand narratives make people feel emotionally connected to the brand because that’s how we emotionally connect with each other – by telling our stories. We empathise through relatability and build relationships founded on shared experiences.
And when consumers see others having positive emotional experiences with a brand, they adopt similar perceptions. Especially if they already trust the opinions of those people, and their lifestyle choices, personalities or interests are intriguing.
Visual cues, storytelling and social proof combine to form a purchaser’s perceptions.
While rational loyalty is based on factors like price and product quality, emotional loyalty creates an attachment to the brand, transforming it into something more than just a provider of goods or services — it becomes part of the consumer’s identity.
Brands that create delight make customers want to return for more. Take a look at Coca-Cola, their campaigns revolve around friends and family and that indescribable feeling of happiness that sharing a Coke can bring. Brands like Nintendo and LEGO evoke childhood memories and companies like TOMS and Patagonia connect with customers by supporting social causes, creating a shared sense of purpose and value alignment.
Joy, nostalgia, and humanitarianism are essential emotions that form the foundation of loyalty.
While consumers may rationalise their decisions after the fact, the driver behind a decision to purchase is always intangible in the moment but must be an intentional action by the brand to evoke a specific feeling in their customer.
Tactics like “limited time offers” trigger FOMO (fear of missing out), making the purchaser feel the need for the product immediately which benefits the brand. Tapping into the ego is often much more effective than utility. Saying a product will make you feel beautiful, will entice buyers more than listing complex ingredients and dosage. Consumers also purchase products that align with their sense of self. If you’re serious about health and fitness you will choose athletic brands like Nike, over generic work-out gear.
Scarcity, emotional desires, and self-identity are factors that cannot be ignored when considering purchasing behaviour.
Perception, loyalty and purchasing behaviour weave into each other forming fabric of emotions that patrons find comfort in when choosing brands and products – without even being aware of it. And to understand and steer decision-making brands need to know how to create this cycle.
Distilling the compound
The three components — Perception, Loyalty, and Purchasing Behaviour — are interdependent and self-reinforcing, driven by core principles of neuroscience, psychology, and behavioural economics.
Perception Fuels Loyalty
When consumers have positive emotional experiences with a brand, the Dopamine Response activates. This encourages the brain to seek out more interactions with the brand, leading to Status Quo Bias. As consumers repeatedly choose the brand, it becomes their “default option,” reinforcing perception of dependability and quality.
Loyalty Drives Purchasing Behaviour
Loyal customers feel an attachment to the brand (thanks to the Endowment Effect) and prefer to stay with it rather than explore alternatives. Their purchasing behaviours become habitual, and the simplicity of buying from a familiar brand reduces cognitive load. Since every purchase creates another opportunity for a positive experience, loyalty becomes a self-reinforcing loop.
Purchasing Behaviour Enhances Perception
Each purchase is an opportunity to create emotional “high points” during the experience. Brands can leverage the Peak-End Rule to make the checkout process or unboxing memorable. If the experience is positive, the Emotional Memory Encoding process makes it vivid in the consumer’s mind. This vivid, emotional memory strengthens perception and increases the likelihood of loyalty.
It’s not a secret, is it?
Then why aren’t we all harnessing the power of sciences and emotions to create unrivalled Sci-Motional experiences? Brands often face significant challenges when it comes to understanding and implementing the emotional side of branding. Because emotions are inherently complex and deeply personal, they are extremely difficult to quantify or systematise. Unlike product features or sales metrics, emotions operate on a subconscious level, shaped by past experiences, cultural context, and individual biases.
Business practices lean on logic and data-driven strategies, which can make it hard to embrace something as fluid as human emotion. But we must let go of this idea of emotions being intangible mysteries—they are measurable, influential forces that impact customer choices every day.
It’s also a mistake to view Sci-Motional principles as something to “add on” to campaigns rather than the foundation on which to build them. Superficial attempts to display authentic emotional resonance is easy to spot and your audience will always see through your simulated efforts. Genuine emotional connections require empathy and a deep understanding of the audience’s lived experiences. Let’s look beyond their own perspective to see the world as their customers do.
Even if a company achieves an emotional connection once, maintaining that connection over time is a different challenge. Emotions aren’t static—they shift with new experiences, trends, and cultural changes. Without a clear, long-term Sci-Motional strategy, brands risk sending mixed messages that confuse or alienate their audience. We must work towards ensuring emotional consistency underpinned by scientific groundwork.
Adding science to the cycle
From a neuroscience perspective, the concept of visual salience explains how certain colours, shapes, and movements automatically capture attention due to the brain’s instinctual need to detect novelty and potential threats. This is why bold, contrasting colours or unique brand logos stand out in a crowded marketplace. A neurochemical associated with trust and empathy, called oxytocin, is triggered when people engage with emotionally charged stories. When brands tell human-centred narratives, customers feel a personal connection, making them more likely to trust and support the brand.
As humans we are wired to seek social belonging and approval. That means that participating in a brand experience that others have endorsed, or even seeing positive reviews and testimonials will activate parts of the brain associated with reward. This leads to the customer seeking out this trigger and engaging in these activities over and over again.
The principle of affective conditioning in psychology suggests that when customers have enjoyable experiences with a product or service, these emotions create a lasting, positive association, making them more likely to return. Nostalgia taps into the self-concept theory, which suggests that people seek connections with their past to maintain a stable sense of identity. So brands that evoke nostalgic feelings will effectively align themselves with customers’ personal histories, creating emotional ties that foster long-term loyalty.
Social identity theory highlights that customers are drawn to brands that reflect their values, including humanitarian ideals. When a brand demonstrates a commitment to social causes, it resonates with customers’ sense of belonging to a community or group, deepening emotional investment and loyalty.
If we’re looking to lead consumers to act quickly, we can utilise the principle of loss aversion from behavioural science which states that the emotional response to potential loss is much stronger than the desire for gain. To avoid missing out, scarcity drives our patrons to make purchases they might otherwise delay. If we want to trigger a desire to gain (rather than loss aversion) we implement the principle of prospect theory, which suggests when seeking to gain customer focus on emotional rewards rather than pure utility.
People tend to choose products that reflect their self-concept or the image they wish to project, believing that doing so will strengthen their sense of identity. This is identity economics. Brands that align their messaging with the values and aspirations of their target audience can encourage patrons to express their authentic selves, enhancing both personal satisfaction and loyalty.
You’ve already experienced Sci-Motional branding
When perception is built on strong emotional cues, it sticks. People remember how a brand made them feel, not necessarily the features of its products. Positive brand perception boosts trust and opens the door for long-term customer relationships. A luxury brand like Chanel creates feelings of sophistication and exclusivity through elegant design, minimalist packaging, and aspirational storytelling. This emotional association defines consumer perception of the brand as one of timeless elegance and status.
Loyal customers are more valuable than one-time buyers. Emotional loyalty drives repeat purchases, higher customer lifetime value (CLV), and powerful word-of-mouth advocacy. Customers who feel emotionally attached to a brand will forgive its mistakes and resist competitor offers. Apple builds emotional loyalty by positioning itself as an enabler of creativity and innovation. Consumers who see themselves as creators or innovators form an emotional bond with the brand, which makes them less likely to switch to competitors.
Purchasing behaviour is rarely logical. Emotional appeals drive impulse buying and influence purchase intent. By understanding the emotional motivations behind purchases, brands can craft campaigns that connect with consumers on a deeper level, moving them from interest to action. Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign tapped into self-love and body positivity, making consumers feel empowered. This emotional connection drove purchasing behaviour, as people chose Dove products as a symbol of self-acceptance.
By focusing on how their brand makes people feel, they can create stronger brand perception, inspire loyalty, and drive purchasing decisions. The heart, after all, makes decisions long before the mind does.
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