Denny Hatch is an “old-school” marketer and copywriter that cut his teeth with direct mail, long before the internet was a thing.
The emotions Hatch identifies in his out-of-print book The Secrets of Emotional, Hot-Button COPYWRITING get people’s juices flowing.
Emotions, it should be said, are the basis for most decisions that people make (but I suspect you already knew that, you wise cookie you… and if you didn’t know it — good on you for wanting to learn!)
A common mantra in marketing is that people don’t want the drill, they want the hole. And more than the hole, they want the finished project that required a hole in the first place.
Another example is a misquoted statement from Antoine de Saint Exupery which serves the same emotional purpose:
If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
Antoine de Saint Exupery, not exactly tho
If you can rile up someone’s emotions for what your product can do for him, your product has a far better chance to sell.
Denny Hatch’s list of Seven Emotions:
Anger: Life isn’t fair, but we like to think it should be. If you can invoke a sense of unfairness people will take action to correct for it. Identifying a common enemy will create an in-group of like-minded people —aka a “tribe”— fighting together against that unfair enemy.
Exclusivity: People like to be a member of an exclusive group. Maybe it’s a private club, maybe it’s a self-given identity, maybe it’s access to information that others don’t have. How can you create exclusivity?
Fear: People are generally afraid of two things: losing what they have, and death. Fear of loss is more powerful than desire for gain (known as Prospect Theory). If you can help a buyer envision the future they have with your product, that gives the mental impression that they already have it and they won’t want to lose that rosy future. Fear of death is, of course, deeply ingrained in humans who find they’re not spending their current life in an affirming or impactful way — the unknown is scary.
Flattery: Everyone likes to be complemented on their brilliant choices. (The flip side to this is Dale Carnegie’s First Rule of Influence: Never criticize, condemn, or complain. People don’t like their mistakes pointed out.)
Greed: People love to get more than they expect, and love to get things for free.
Guilt: People drag their feet because they’re comfortable with the status quo. If you can get someone to recognize what they should be doing to improve their own well-being, guilt can get them to take action.
Salvation: By painting two very different and contrasting outcomes, your product (or service) can provide salvation to someone who would otherwise continue to flounder. Your product is the only way forward.