Even in times of data-driven websites, human emotion is still very important. But how do you elicit empathy online? Roos van Dam shared on Emerce some tips that will move your conversion forward emotionally.

How you feel determines what you do. For example, people seek closeness when something makes us happy and we avoid something the moment we feel fear or disgust. Research shows that extreme happiness and extreme anger encourage people to try new things, but insecurity causes people to react more conservatively and not want to try much new.

That is, emotions can be motivating when we want to encourage a certain type of behavior. For example, when someone is delighted by a new food processor, someone is more likely to buy the food processor than at the time when someone experiences disgust.

Emotions as a means of communication

But emotions also play an important role in the social sphere. Because 90% of the communication during a conversation is non-verbal, we recognize emotions based on someone's facial expression (frown, eyes, mouth) and body posture. Therefore, we are generally good at recognizing and responding to other people's emotions. Just think of a conversation in which someone expresses their enthusiasm; we (as conversation partners) can also feel that same happiness.

Imitation for empathy

The interesting thing about emotions is that we humans are, unconsciously, very good at imitating body posture and facial expressions. This imitation has a social function: it helps us empathize with another person. To do this, we use special nerve cells in our brain that cause us to imitate movements we see in our heads. These mirror neurons are connected to the premotor cortex, and this part of the brain, in turn, is connected to movement planning. Just look at yourself when you are having a conversation. If you lean forward there is a good chance that your interlocutor will do the same and vice versa.

How do you elicit empathy online?

But how does that work on a Web site? In principle, you can activate mirror neurons by posting lots of pictures of happy people. But our experience shows that faces draw our attention so strongly that it tends to distract us from what we are doing at that moment rather than stimulate growth in conversions. So we need to look for another way to motivate our customers' buying behavior through emotions.

So the question remains: without our body posture and facial expression, how can we ensure that we make our customer enthusiastically happy for that food processor?

Emotion in text and image

Often we find it very difficult to make a choice rationally. For example, the product is very complicated making comparison impossible, or there is just too much choice. Exactly at times like these, the motivating effect of emotions can be very pleasant and help you make a decision.

When this is the case on your website, you can start experimenting with text and design to ‘spark’ the right emotions. If you want the customer to buy the food processor, you would like to make the customer happy. Because the happiness will contribute as a motivator to buy the food processor. For example, use the text, “Since 1941, KitchenAid has been the best food processor on the market.” Or use green elements to convey a positive feeling. Just a small green check mark confirming a visitor's action can be enough to evoke these positive feelings in your visitor.

Keep in mind negative associations

So, logically, I can advise against using negative elements or text that might create fear or uncertainty. Think about using a lot of red or negative reviews. But above all, be very aware that people are associative. Positively worded elements can generate negative feelings very quickly when associated with negative experiences or consequences. For example: “pay securely through our website”. On the contrary, the word ‘safe’ can be associated with an unsafe situation and make people insecure.

In what ways can emotion contribute to your customer's experience?

It's up to you to discover if and how emotion is a motivator for your customer's buying behavior. Research where there is a need for emotional motivation within the buying process and discover the best way to achieve this motivation.

For example, do your visitors need more confirmation when it comes to your brand? Or do they find it difficult to make a choice for a specific product? Can you convince your visitors with persuasive copy? Or do your visitors respond positively to visual elements that confirm the previously made choice?

For every market, every organization, every product, every visitor, every place and every moment, the effects will be different. But by experimenting, you will soon learn more about your visitors' behavior and find out how emotion can help your visitors make a decision.