Last update: 06/11/2021

In a nutshell

The Emotions sub-dimension in the Marketing Canvas highlights the emotional benefits that define your value proposition. While functional benefits address practical needs, emotional benefits resonate with customers on a deeper level, fostering loyalty and long-term connections. A compelling emotional value proposition reflects your brand’s purpose, sets you apart from competitors, and aligns with evolving societal priorities like sustainability.

For example, a company like Green Clean might offer emotional benefits such as “peace of mind knowing your home is safe for your family and the planet.” This emotional resonance reinforces customer trust and loyalty, beyond the functional benefits of cleaning performance.

Introduction

The Emotions sub-dimension in the Marketing Canvas addresses the feelings and experiences customers associate with your value proposition. It explores how your brand elicits positive emotions, builds trust, and creates a lasting impact that goes beyond the product or service itself.

By understanding and delivering emotional benefits, brands can establish stronger connections with their target audience, inspire advocacy, and differentiate themselves in competitive markets.

What are emotional benefits?

Emotional benefits represent the intangible value customers derive from engaging with your brand. These benefits might include feelings of security, joy, pride, or belonging. Emotional benefits often serve as the deciding factor when customers choose between similar products or services.

For example:

• Core Emotional Benefits: Address universal customer feelings such as trust or confidence.

• Differentiating Emotional Benefits: Provide unique experiences or feelings that set your brand apart.

• Unique Emotional Benefit: Create a singular emotional reason that makes your offering the preferred choice.

Green Clean’s emotional benefits might include:

• Core Emotional Benefit: Trust in the safety and effectiveness of the product.

• Differentiating Emotional Benefit: Pride in supporting a sustainable brand.

• Unique Emotional Benefit: Peace of mind from creating a healthier, toxin-free home for loved ones.

Emotions: an in-depth perspective

To craft a powerful emotional value proposition, businesses must:

1. Meet Basic Expectations: Deliver on the emotional benefits expected within the category.

2. Differentiate Through Experiences: Offer unique emotional connections that competitors do not provide.

3. Focus on a Unique Emotional Appeal: Identify the single emotional benefit that defines your brand’s appeal.

4. Align with Purpose and Positioning: Ensure emotional benefits reflect the brand’s core mission and messaging.

5. Integrate Sustainability: Appeal to customers’ desire to make ethical and environmentally conscious choices.

For instance:

• Alignment: Green Clean’s emotional benefits align with its eco-friendly mission, ensuring customers feel good about their choices.

• Differentiation: By emphasizing its commitment to family health and environmental impact, Green Clean creates a unique emotional bond with its audience.

• Sustainability: Features such as non-toxic ingredients and reusable packaging appeal to customers’ emotions tied to sustainability.

Translating emotions into action

To deliver emotional benefits effectively, brands must identify and consistently communicate the feelings they want to evoke across all customer touchpoints. Emotional benefits should be evident in marketing messages, customer experiences, and product interactions.

Questions to consider:

• What emotional benefits are essential in your category, and how well do you deliver them?

• How do your emotional benefits set your brand apart from competitors?

• What is the unique emotional benefit that defines your value proposition?

• Are your emotional benefits consistent with your brand purpose and positioning?

• How do your emotional benefits reflect sustainability?

Statements for self-assessment

For a comprehensive evaluation of your understanding and application of the Emotions concept, rate your agreement with the following statements on a scale from -3 (completely disagree) to +3 (completely agree):

1. Your value proposition has all the core emotional benefits required by the category.

2. Your value proposition has few emotional benefits that set you apart from the competition.

3. Your value proposition has a unique emotional benefit that defines the single most reason for choosing you.

4. Your value proposition emotional benefits are consistent with your brand purpose and positioning.

5. Your value proposition has integrated sustainability in its emotional benefits.

Interpretation of the scores

Negative scores (-1 to -3): Negative scores indicate that your value proposition lacks clarity or fails to address the emotional benefits that customers expect. This may lead to weak differentiation, limited customer loyalty, and missed opportunities to create meaningful connections.

A score of zero (0): A neutral score reflects uncertainty or incomplete articulation of emotional benefits. While some benefits may exist, they lack depth, uniqueness, or alignment with your brand purpose. Further development and integration are needed to create a compelling emotional value proposition.

Positive scores (+1 to +3): Positive scores suggest that your emotional benefits are well-defined, unique, and consistently aligned with your brand purpose and sustainability goals. These benefits foster customer loyalty, emotional connections, and advocacy, strengthening your value proposition.

Case study: Green clean’s emotional benefits

Misaligned understanding (-3, -2, -1): Green Clean focuses only on functional benefits, failing to address the emotional needs of its customers. This oversight leads to weak emotional connections and limited differentiation, as customers do not feel a unique or lasting bond with the brand.

Surface understanding (0): Green Clean recognizes the importance of emotional benefits but lacks a cohesive strategy to articulate and deliver them. While customers may appreciate the eco-friendly mission, the emotional connection remains superficial and does not strongly influence their loyalty or advocacy.

Deep understanding (+1, +2, +3): Green Clean offers a well-defined emotional value proposition. Customers feel peace of mind knowing their cleaning products are safe and sustainable, pride in supporting an eco-conscious brand, and joy in contributing to a healthier environment. These emotional benefits align with the brand’s purpose and create a loyal customer base that advocates for the brand’s mission.

Conclusion

The Emotions sub-dimension is vital for creating value propositions that resonate deeply with customers. By delivering core emotional benefits, differentiating through unique experiences, and aligning these benefits with brand purpose and sustainability, businesses can build trust, foster loyalty, and inspire advocacy. A strong emotional value proposition complements functional benefits, making the overall offering more compelling and memorable.

Read Next

How to price your product? Read Marketing Canvas and Pricing

Sources

1. Market and Economic Value, Laurent Bouty, https://laurentbouty.com/blog/2019/marketing-canvas-market-and-economic-value

2. Harvard Business Review, 2015, The new science of customer emotions

3. Harvard Business Review, 2018, The B2B elements of Value

4. Marketing Journal, 2018, The elements of Value

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