It´s all about emotions
Ana Sanz-Magallón is a story editor who defends the idea that “Interesting stories talk about someone who acts in order to achieve something difficult” and she’s right when you consider it. Think about your favorite film or novel, it surely fits this model. Nowadays I am binge reading a compilation of three of Bukowski’s works and I’m freaking out about his style, which is always simple, hard and straight to the point.
The style and jargon that Bukowski uses seem to not be not so far from the way in which we are consuming information today. One of the good things about the internet as a medium is that communication is: direct and instantaneous. If I like something, I give it a thumbs up and I share it. If I don’t like something, I leave the website and write a bad review.
Simple and hard like Bukowski. Huge investment in Google Adwords and promotion goes down the drain because of such bad experiences.
Think now about the number of stories that there are. Every type, many, and different, minimum, one per person, and one per brand (status, positioning, sex, solidarity, sustainability… and a huge etcetera).
And in every story, there is also emotion. Without emotion, nothing is worth the effort, is it? Experience is based on emotions, as emotions are the engine for decision making. Don’t you think that the best feeling is not having things but the process of achieving them? The emotion of reaching a good. When we go to a restaurant we want to be treated well. Everyone wants a story with a happy ending.
Psychological research and neuroscience have revealed that emotions are so powerful that they can influence our perception, decision making and even memories: the more emotion the more we will remember.
Therefore, designing moving stories is critical for reaching a positive ROI. Creating emotional design can convert users into fans. Because of this, one good way of making the KPIs grow is to design taking into account emotions.
Companies do not compete for money, they compete for identity niches.
People want to feel themselves identify with brands, and so companies do not compete for quality products anymore, or for the price, they compete for identities. Life is too short to continue doing things which you don´t enjoy.
And there are lots of people who are all different. This changes exponentially if we also include unpredictability as a variable. People and how they act are unpredictable. Designing for idyllic situations is distorted. When I talk about idyllic situations, I refer to those situations in which users are focusing all their attention on the brand, from when they enter the funnel until they leave, and this rarely ever happens.
Buying is less rational and more mediated by instincts. There are distractions, a lack of attention, prejudices, stress, difficulties, there is a lot of light, low batteries… Numbers are important, quantitative studies, statistics, mathematics, but they are not enough, because numbers don’t explain why people do what they do or their emotions and motivations. Thus, we are rounded by distortion.
Companies need to know how their products or services are going to fit into people lives in order to have the most accurate view and avoid making prejudgements.
Let’s imagine a digital context that would change depending on how the person feels. How cool would that be!
There is a long road to be walked regarding emotions and diversity and we must evolve adapting contexts to suit each moment.
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Joe Lozano is Head of Digital Product Design at Erretres.
He has developed many projects for clients including: ElPaís, Movistar, Iberia, Endesa, Iberia Express, Rodilla, Domino´s Pizza, Balearia, Toyota, GNF, BBVA, Santander, Bankia, or KPMG.
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