One word that you don’t normally think of when you scan a large spreadsheet or look at a vast number of powerpoint pie charts is “emotion”. They’re numbers. Numbers are seen as either correct or incorrect and there’s no space around them for argument. However, despite this, market research should not ignore the value of emotion which comes from all around those numbers, and should be important from the very beginning from the questions you ask and finally in the completed analysis.
Human connection
It’s obviously vital to know from a business perspective how people feel when they buy your product or service. Happy, you’d hope. But also, if you want to tell other people how they’re feeling about a problem which your product solves – you need to find out about their emotions. What are their frustrations? Is there a simple desire to make something difficult easier (using your product)? Does it run deeper? Research can help.
Providing context and meaning
While quantitative research provides valuable insights into patterns and correlations, it often doesn’t get really deep explaining underlying reasons. This is where qualitative can come in and help put some meat on the bones. By sharing personal anecdotes, case studies, or testimonials that evoke emotions, you can breathe life into your research findings and give them real-world significance.
Persuasion and influence
You want to change someone’s mind, you have to appeal to the heart as well as the head. Emotional language, compassion and power comes through writing and analysis, raising awareness and at the very least, leaving the audience with questions they must ask themselves. You cannot do this without some emotion.
Storytelling
Humans love stories – they’re innate to our DNA, we’ve been telling them for millenia and they’re the most effective form of communication we have. When presenting any form of research, you need to keep the audience engaged, and that’s through narratives – whether they’re short or long- that take them on a journey.
Information overload
You may have noticed that there’s quite a bit of data out there in the world. Research findings are reported every day. If you can think of a topic, no matter how niche, there’s been a study on it. To stand out, you need to rise above and connect – you don’t do that by simply quoting figures. You can use emotions to raise your findings above the numbers – give them greater impact.
For more information, contact us at info@perspectusglobal.com