According to Harvard Professor Gerald Zaltman, 95% of decisions are made by the subconscious mind. He believes the key to winning clients and persuading customers is a matter of engaging with them on an emotional level – and a boat load of academic and experimental research now exists to back that belief up.
You probably don’t think of emotions as a key part of your marketing; the property sector is all about practical, rational investments. But the reality is, with so much competition for every property, agencies need as many ways to differentiate themselves as they can get.
To understand how emotions can help you differentiate your agency and win more clients, we need to consider the role emotions play in decision making.
Every decision is emotional
We tend to think of ‘emotional’ decisions as reckless and ‘rational’ decisions as smart. Yet science suggests that this is an overly simplistic binary.
To use a simple metaphor, imagine an iceberg: while the tip is the most visible part, we know that the vast majority of it is buried beneath the water.
Decision making is a little bit like this: the rational part of your brain (known by neuroscientists as the prefrontal-cortex) is the tip of the iceberg, meaning you can easily observe it. But the emotional part of your brain (known as the limbic system) is what holds the whole thing up.
The limbic system is constantly giving us cues about how to interpret information, helping guide our apparently autonomous conscious mind in the right direction. And this is why patients who suffer brain damage and can no longer process emotions properly tend to make terrible decisions: they no longer have the ‘feeling’ that certain things are dangerous, or pointless, or valuable.
Simply put, emotions are involved in every decision we make, however seemingly rational.
They are the scaffolding that holds together any long-term relationship a client or customer has with your brand, and that means we need to consider the emotional impact every action we take will have.
Three ways your agency can tap into emotions
Understanding the key role emotion plays in converting leads into clients is great, but in order for it to be valuable you have to take action.
Much of the emotional impact you have is about creating subtle differentiation: you’re not looking to be best friends with every client, but to ensure they feel a low-level sense of connection and positivity towards your brand.
Here are three ways to tap into your landlords’ emotions:
1. Nail the ‘peak’ moments
Researchers often talk about ‘peak’ moments, when emotional needs are most immediate and relevant. In simple terms, this means there are moments when clients and leads are more susceptible to emotional messages, and therefore tapping into that emotion is more likely to trigger a response.
This isn’t just about relevance, as we’ve discussed before. Instead, it’s about determining key points in the customer journey and anticipating the emotions a prospect or client will be feeling.
For example: sending messages on anniversaries or at key recontact moments is great. But tailoring those messages so that they tap into the aspiration, or regret, or joy the individual will likely be feeling is far more powerful and persuasive.
2. Improve your messaging
Too many agencies’ landing pages, email campaigns and appointment messages are dry, overstuff with information and often aesthetically underwhelming.
Improving the copy and design can make a big difference. It should be more to the point, more emotionally evocative and more pleasing to the eye – this will help create a sense of trust, confidence and comfort.
Personalisation can also help here, by humanising the communication and creating a real, emotional relationship between landlord and agency.
3. Make pain point emotional
Emotions are particularly important when highlighting challenges and presenting solutions.
If you are prospecting and a landlord is particularly unhappy with a specific aspect of their current situation - or has a specific aspiration - you need to be ready to engage with the emotion they are feeling.
Particularly as you generate more data on your prospects and clients, a wellspring of insights will be available to effectively tap into emotions when discussing future plans and pain points.
Conclusion | Uncertain times need emotional ties
We’re living in deeply strange times, and despite the hope recent vaccine announcements have caused, there is still much we don’t know and can’t prepare for.
Understandably, emotions are running high. But rather than seeing that as an extra element of uncertainty, agencies need to see this as an opportunity to create deeper relationships with landlords.
Active Agents’ CXM system is designed to deliver more relevant, emotionally engaging customer journeys. And at a time like this, that could not be more important.
If you’d like to see what Active Agent could do for your agency, book your free demo today.