by Damian Grimling | Nov 6, 2021 | Categorising comments, SentiBrand
Shopping is a constant part of our lives. Every day, we come into contact with a huge number of more or less recognizable brands and companies. However, only some of them we choose more often and more willingly. Sometimes it happens completely automatically. Why does this happen and what determines our choice? It is probably emotions.
Brand loyalty vs. brand strength. What determines our choice?
There’s no denying and it’s been proven that our purchasing decisions are mostly influenced by emotions and the bond that a brand has developed with us. A recent study conducted by Deloitte entitled “From disparate signals to transformative action. The latest research by Deloitte “From disparate signals to transformative action” shows that emotional attachment to a brand is a decisive factor when making purchases for a group of 80% of consumers. In turn, 62% of them declared that they have some kind of relationship with a given brand.
– The brand-consumer relationship is a particularly important factor in sales strategy because it is directly related to customer satisfaction. We as manufacturers are constantly challenged to create better and better offers that meet consumer expectations,” – reads the report.
For what purpose do we shop? Consumers often shop primarily to improve their mood. Nowadays, the purchase of a particular good or service does not have to be dictated by discounts, promotions or low prices. The key here is the mentioned emotions. They are the reason why some of our purchasing decisions are not very rational, made on impulse and at the moment.
So, what can a brand do to generate emotions and become even more liked and recognized by consumers? What is the secret and power of the biggest brands and their messages? Apart from emotions, it is important to build positive associations in the recipients. It is worth remembering to adjust the communication strategy to the target group. An advertising campaign addressed to teenagers should look different from one addressed to people aged 40+.
Visual identity also plays a huge role in consumers’ perception of a brand. We live in a world of short information, slogans and signs. That is why logos, colors, symbols and general aesthetics of products are important. All this also creates the image of the company according to the buyer and has a bearing on building a relationship between him and the brand.
The basis is brand loyalty and trust
Today’s market abounds in various brands, and more and more are created all the time. We are almost flooded with various products and symbols, often not knowing what it all means. However, companies that enjoy the greatest recognition and consumer choice are not resting on their laurels and are constantly developing their offers. The key is to constantly work on the image because without this, it is impossible to maintain the leadership position.
In the aforementioned Deloitte report we read that if a brand wants not only to stay on the market, but above all to boast of constant trust, it needs constant work and listening to consumers. This means staying up to date with the ever-present changes and new trends. Without this, it will not be possible to maintain the highest standards and respond to the preferences of as many customers as possible.
The consumer who has established a bond with the brand is then not only a recurring generator of profit, but also an engaged recipient. Building long-term partnerships with consumers means, above all, responding responsibly and effectively to their needs. More and more companies emphasize personalization and considering individual preferences of consumers to provide them with the most suitable benefits.
Many factors contribute to the choice of a particular brand, but first there are positive emotions and associations. To build them, we need a dialogue with consumers, a trusting answer to their needs as well as building the opinion of a unique brand, positively distinguishing itself from the competition. We can easily learn about emotions by analyzing media, including blogs, news portals, internet forums and most of all social networking sites. That’s what Sentimenti tools are for.
by Igor Starczak | Sep 30, 2021 | SentiBrand
Advertising, marketing, and communication activities based on influencing the positive emotions of the audience are used frequently today because they are effective. Why? Such emotions can be easily transferred directly to the brand, and thus build a positive image of the brand. Besides, influencing the emotions of the audience allows not only to better anchor the brand in their consciousness, but also to stimulate them to a certain action. But are positive emotions really always positive for a brand?
Positive emotions are generally those emotions that we experience with pleasure. To put it in scientific jargon, they are pleasant or desirable situational reactions, distinct from pleasant sensations and undifferentiated positive affect. Such emotions include love, joy, satisfaction, contentment, interest, amusement, happiness, peace or delight, among others.
How do they work? Experiencing positive emotions:
- expands a person’s set of values and beliefs,
- stimulates openness,
- makes it easier to find solutions in a difficult situation,
- makes it easier to get out of one’s comfort zone and pick up ideas or take actions that are not typical for a person.
This very mechanism is used by advertising, marketing and communication campaigns to strengthen the relationship of customers with the brand, encourage them to buy products and services, join newsletters, etc.
However, what specialists do not want to remember is that every stick has two ends. Yes, yes: positive emotions also have their dark side. Take joy – an emotion with a clear positive connotation. As research shows [1], people who intensely pursue happiness have a greater ease of experiencing depressive states, feeling unhappy and being depressed. They also tend to be more selfish and feel lonely.
The study also indicated that anger may have an impact on performing certain actions more effectively, such as those of a confrontational nature (we wrote about the positive effects of negative emotions in a previous article). In contrast, emotions of a positive nature can sometimes have the opposite effect.
Positive and negative emotions are like yin and yang
They cannot exist separately, but complement each other. Sometimes people feel both positive and negative emotions simultaneously in certain situations (especially stressful ones). This happens, for example, when moving out of the family home or when graduating from college. In such moments, one may feel joy and sadness at the same time – emotions that, in the study, have opposite charges to each other.
People who have succeeded under ambiguous circumstances will have a similar emotional experience. Moreover, those who have suffered a failure, and this failure brought them a kind of deliverance from a difficult situation, or its consequences were not as terrible as it promised to be at first.
The above information shows that basing communication with customers solely on positive emotions is wrong. The study of the effects of such activities will be falsified because it is incomplete. To assess the emotionality of the recipients of marketing, advertising, PR and other activities, one needs not only a tool that cross-searches the emotions experienced by a person or group of people in a given situation. It is also necessary to take a more flexible approach to understanding the role of emotions themselves. It is best to assume that a given emotion can play several, sometimes conflicting roles.
The high effectiveness of marketing or communication activities based on positive emotions is very tempting for specialists. However, there is a considerable risk in this. Constant pumping of a positive emotional balloon causes frustration in the recipients of such communications after some time. This can lead to a loosening of the relationship with the brand, breaking that relationship, or even turning to the competition.
Imagine being in the company of an overly cheerful person for a long time, almost flooding with optimism or trying to make everyone around happy… by force. Tiring, isn’t it?
Receiving positively charged, but served in too large a dose of brand communication will work similarly. It will be perceived as intrusive, tiresome and inauthentic. Consumers will react skeptically to such actions.
Why? Because as emotional beings, we are only complete when positive emotions are joined by negative ones. When we accept their existence and integrate the whole with each other. This mechanism also translates into the reception of emotionally charged communication.
By focusing in communication exclusively on positive messages and not taking information about the negative emotions of its audience, the company commits a cognitive error (the so-called Pollyanna effect). Customers in the cognitive loop of positive emotions will contribute little analytical information about consumer behavior, and will not act. Instead, customers in negative emotions will provide this information. This is because their natural reflex will be to want to break out of the loop of negative emotions, so they will take appropriate steps to take so.
With incomplete data on negative reactions, the full potential of positive emotions cannot be realized
This reduces the value and effectiveness of the actions taken by the brand. A holistic analysis of emotions and sentiment will help in this case to identify potential changes in consumer behavior. And it is additionally important to remember that it is negative emotions that have a greater impact on changes in behavior and personality formation.
The use of only positive emotions in marketing, advertising, and communications is often due to the social stigmatization of negative feelings, and therefore fear of them. This phenomenon can be observed especially where a social pattern of functioning is translated into the way an organization operates. For example, there is regular fearmongering and manipulation in public spaces, for example, by politicians, religious leaders, etc.
Under such circumstances, negative emotions are perceived as an enemy or at least as a weakness, and these, after all, should be protected against. Choosing only positive solutions is therefore here a socially expected form of protecting oneself, the organization or the brand. A way to manage the company and a method to build an image in the public space.
However, with the simultaneous denial of negative emotions, such a model of company operation or a way of brand communication becomes a powerful ballast in development and a barrier to achieving the goals. The vast majority of energy in this case is directed at building and maintaining an illusory positive image of reality. Human resources and financial outlays are directed to this goal.
If a crisis arises, such as an image crisis, it will be much more severe and long-lasting for the organization because its symptoms will be denied and repressed. It will be much more difficult for a given company to recover from such a crisis. It will need not only to take corrective steps against misguided actions, but also to reevaluate the entire way the organization functions.
Emotions are important components in creating the customer experience (CX) with a company. Placing communication solely on positive emotions and experiences deprives a company’s analytical cells of an significant range of information regarding specific consumer behavior. This leads to an incomplete depiction and therefore incomplete understanding of the needs of that company’s customers. As a result, these needs remain unmet, which eventually results in declines in sales, an overall reduction in brand appeal and a gradual exodus of dissatisfied customers toward competitors.
Consider customers’ experience of interacting with a brand in terms of the emotions they feel
These experiences result from the interactions between the various points of contact between consumers and the company at the pre-purchase, during purchase and post-purchase stages. The experiences from these interactions can sometimes be contradictory. A customer may experience positive emotions when reading enthusiastic product reviews or watching emotionally charged advertisements. However, he or she will also experience negative emotions when waiting for a long time for an ordered product, when demand increased by advertisements causes delays in delivery.
Such impressions in contact with the company can then:
- reflect negatively on the image of the brand (it is inefficient, it does not cope with meeting the needs of customers),
- project negative opinions about the product (when the frustration caused by waiting too long outweighs the level of satisfaction with the user, or when the product does not fully satisfy the user’s expectations, has defects, etc.).
In the case in question, betting only on creating positive communication misses the point. Again, the needs of the users of the product or service are overlooked, which leads to a progressive degradation of customer attachment to the brand or commodity.
Using only communication based on positive emotions and building customer attachment to them is, finally, fraught with yet another mistake. Without expected results from marketing, PR or advertising activities, there may be a tendency to assume that the absence of positive resonance (i.e., the absence of positive emotions in customers) means the presence of negative emotions. This is not necessarily true.
The actions taken by the company will then focus on covering negative emotions with positive ones. And this will be a mistake because building relationships on positive emotions is of a different nature than neutralizing negative emotions. In such a case, it is necessary to conduct an analysis of customer emotions in response to the actions taken, which will enable validation and corrective steps to be taken.
Conclusion: a single positive customer experience can be valuable to him and result in the transfer of positive emotions into loyalty decisions. It can therefore strengthen his relationship with the company. But this positive experience can also make the resulting secondary positive experiences less exciting and valuable to the same customer. This raises the possibility that these positive experiences will not positively influence loyalty decisions.
All activities aimed at promoting and advertising a product or service, increasing brand awareness among current and future customers, and creating lasting and engaging B2C relationships are dependent on emotional charge. Their effectiveness will be greater the emotional charge, however, using the full spectrum of emotions – positive, neutral, and negative.
Positive emotions cannot function isolated from negative ones – this is simply unnatural. Example: a blog article about a particular product, which only mentions its advantages. Such posts are not uncommon. Meanwhile, it is enough to have a glance at the reviews of this product on the web, and it is already clear that the mentioned text is unreliable, and describing only the advantages of the product – manipulative.
The same is true of more general communication directed to customers. Striking only a positive note falsifies the picture and does not provide full data on implemented measures. If there are problems, fixing such communication becomes much more difficult. Therefore, if we are already using emotions to increase the engagement of our users, let’s dose them carefully and with the whole palette in mind. We will then have the best effect.
by Sentimenti Team | Aug 23, 2021 | SentiBrand
Getting to know consumer habits and understanding customer motivations is a good way to increase sales and grow your business. These goals can be achieved by analyzing emotions in the publications of Internet users, especially those related to your own brand. In this article we talk about the study of emotions in marketing and their impact on consumer behavior.
Emotions in marketing – are they worth exploring?
Emotions are responsible for certain body reactions and influence a person’s behavior. When analyzing emotions online, we use Robert Plutchik’s model, which distinguishes 8 basic emotions: joy, sadness, anger, disgust, fear, trust, surprise and anticipation. In expression, anger can lead to confrontation or aggression, joy enhances creativity and decision-making.
Sadness speaks of lack and manifests withdrawal, disgust rejects and stimulates flight, and fear also causes the urge to flee or attack. Trust speaks of closeness and relationship quality, surprise is an inducer of other emotions and feelings, and anticipation stimulates the body, preparing it for an upcoming event.
Since emotions are responsible for instinctive reactions, knowing their intensity can help predict consumer behaviour, improve customer service or monitor the brand image more effectively online. Knowing what evokes positive associations in customers, one can shape advertising, marketing and PR policy. Emotions are useful in creating characteristics of customers (persona) or for storytelling.
Researching customer emotions – advantages
Examining emotions in your own customers gives your company insight into consumer behavior. It will be useful e.g. when validating the effects of an advertising or communication campaign or in Content Marketing. It will help in creating tailored messages and more precise targeting of groups, more effective collection of leads, implementation of display campaigns, etc.
By examining the emotions of the recipients, the company may monitor its image and react in advance to the symptoms of crisis.
Emotion analysis versus sentiment analysis – the differences
The two terms are not used interchangeably; this is a mistake. Emotion analysis is the study of basic emotions – the unconscious, instinctual reactions of the brain and body to external or internal stimuli (e.g., thoughts, memories) and their effect on a person’s behavior. Meanwhile, sentiment analysis refers to reactions that are thought out and controlled by the subject: after becoming aware of the action of an emotion, he or she makes a decision that results in a mental attitude – sentiment.
Its study gives a result in the form of positive and negative sentiment, but we get an overall negative result without indicating the specific emotion and the behavior following it. With emotion analysis, we get the percentage score of each of the 8 emotions in the utterance, plus the sentiment analysis and the emotional arousal index.
They can check their own and their competitors’ emotionally charged phrases to determine how customers feel about their products or services, compare them with those of their competitors, and then make changes – to their offerings, their communication, or just their image.
Negative emotions: what can trigger them in marketing?
Negative emotions are conventionally called emotions whose perception is perceived as unpleasant. This perception gives the whole group of emotions a pejorative name, but the emotions themselves are warning signals of danger and are therefore not negative. In marketing or advertising emotions with such overtones may appear as a result of specific actions of brands or companies. What causes negative reactions of consumers?
For example, the use of the message, which strikes at the key values of the recipients of communication, breaks stereotypes, refers to unpopular views. Such slip-ups are the domain of multinationals that cannot predict the effects of actions in culturally distinct societies and do not take into account the mood of the target group. Another example is misalignment of the message with the requirements of the target group: it indicates misunderstanding of the group’s needs and will cause its frustration, which will translate into poor sales results and unfavorable comments on the Internet – and thus a scratch on the company/brand image.
Actions that cause negative emotions can also include overly intrusive PR and advertising, provocative actions (e.g. viral marketing), reprehensible practices towards employees, destruction of the environment, laboratory testing on animals, etc.
Negative customer emotions and their consequences
Customers most often talk about negative emotions through the company’s communication channels – social media, portals, e-mail. They comment under posts or create them themselves, review products and services, write opinions on forums, under articles, etc.
If the company’s message evokes negative emotions in them and these persist, their consequences will include negative WOMM (spreading unfavourable comments and opinions), brand switching (moving to the competition), brand detachment (severing relations with the brand), filing complaints, and even consumer boycotts, organizing protests or taking legal action.
How should a company respond to the negative emotions of its customers?
Negative emotions in your customers cannot be avoided, but you can minimize their effects. That’s why you should choose the analysis of emotions contained in the content. In social listening it will give you an up-to-date insight into the moods of your customers, in brand monitoring – the perception of the brand, it will also help to predict the behavior of consumers. And what to do when the symptoms of crisis appear? First of all, do not ignore them.
Negative moods will not subside on their own. Then accept the criticism and analyze the customer’s point of view – it is possible that the company’s policy was based on wrong assumptions. Finally – take concrete corrective actions, e.g. dialogue with the client, validation of communication or marketing activities, or improvement of the controversial service or product.
Interpretation of results:
The customer felt strongly surprised (62%) by the controversial statement of the maintenance department. She is angry about this (52%), but also feels anger about the careless finish of the apartment she bought.
The high level of surprise also relates to the individual faults that the customer mentions in her comment: the wrong way to suspend the ceiling, the faulty damp insulation around the chimney, the unprotected attic, the lack of a well-functioning but legally executed ventilation of the room with the fireplace or stove, the deficiencies in the electrical system and their repair that does not comply with building regulations, and finally the excessively high prices of additional services.
This state of affairs makes the customer feel sad (48%) and at the same time disgusted (loathing – 40%). The commentator does not know what else will happen to her in connection with the purchase (expectation – 35%), is afraid that things will not turn out well (fear – 36%), but still has hope for a positive outcome (expectation – 35%, trust – 21%). Finally, there is the indicator of joy (22%).
In the present case, it refers to ironic comments towards the developer, who is satisfied with his actions. We also have results for sentiment and emotional agitation – positive – 21%, negative – 45%, emotional agitation – 67%. This last element indicates that the commenter is highly agitated and inclined to take action.
What actions from such a client should be expected? Her emotional state, accompanying negative sentiment, and high arousal rate will likely push the commenter to post negative comments (negative WOMM) on forums, social media, and anywhere else she sees requests for feedback about this particular developer. In all likelihood, she will advertise any faults that arise with the developer, and possibly – pursue legal action.
Author: Igor Starczak. The publication also appeared in the quarterly “Developer & Marketing” (No. 3 / 2021).
by Damian Grimling | Aug 5, 2021 | Politics and Social
This is undoubtedly one of the most commented political topics of recent weeks. Lex TVN. What it is. It’s a parliamentary draft of amendments to the media law, the proceedings of which coincided with the expiration of the license to broadcast the TVN24 television station. Is the topic heating up citizens online? If so, how much?
Lex TVN. What is it about and how do Internet users react?
- The TVN24 station, according to the new law, may not get its 10-year broadcasting license renewed,
- The topic has been one of the most popular in recent weeks and has been strongly agitating Internet users,
- Emotions are rising as soon as one remembers that the whole issue is being watched personally by US President Joe Biden.The topic of the concession to the TVN24 station stirs emotions, as evidenced by the high emotion arousal of Internet users. We examined the discussion of the so-called Lex TVN across the web (not only social media, but also comments under editorials and on forums and blogs and elsewhere). This is a total of almost 180,000 opinions of Internet users. The chart below illustrates the number of statements on the subject online and the average daily intensity of emotional arousal. The values of this indicator for the entire analyzed period, i.e. from July 8 to August 2 this year, were higher than 50%.
The topic of the TVN24 station’s concession stirs emotions, as evidenced by the high emotional arousal of Internet users. We examined the discussion of the so-called Lex TVN across the web (not only social media, but also comments under editorials and on forums and blogs and elsewhere). This is a total of almost 180,000 opinions of Internet users. The chart below illustrates the number of statements on the subject online and the average daily intensity of emotional arousal.
Contexts of negative discussion on Lex TVN
As is standard with the topic of media repolonization, the key contexts for negative discussion are: free media, freedom of speech, independent media. A lot of discussion was devoted to foreign capital in the media (here, too, the context is about private business, the civilized world, the owner of TVN). However, the citizen’s right to access the media and to reliable information was pointed out. As standard, criticism went in the direction of the ruling party, the public media were slashed (context: propaganda tube, brainwashing, dark people). Also standard in this type of discussion is extensive reference to other current policy issues. This is another typical clash of tribes in the digital world.
In terms of discussion venues, we recorded the most anger on news portals, i.e. in conversations among Internet users under editorials (level of almost 40%). The most joy, on the other hand, appeared on Facebook. There, many posts and content were published under which people cheered the opposition in taking action to defend their favorite TV station.
In general, however, the dominance of negative emotion is noticeable in all media, although the level of emotion saturation = 50% was not exceeded in any of the sources.
Conclusions
In 2020. Poland has dropped as many as 11 positions on the list of the strongest national brands (Soft Power Index). It seems that Lex TVN is another unnecessary and potentially dangerous image crisis for the country. Such events have a direct impact not only on polarizing citizens and fueling further conflicts. They cause more tangible losses – declines in the rankings of the strongest brands-countries (e.g., Country Index, in which Poland fell 11 notches to position 55 in 2020). The situation around Lex TVN – even if it’s just a holiday substitute topic – could scare off potential investors and damage our foreign policy.
From the point of view of surveys of conversations among Internet users, this is another topic in a whole sea of political topics to stir up the electorate online. It can also be a completely surrogate issue, thrown in by politicians for the vacation season to stoke extreme emotion. There is also no denying that the topic has somewhat run out of steam in recent days.
The defense, according to the opposition, of the so-called “free media” does not break through as strongly in the online world. The issue can also be considered on another level. The ruling party has a plan to win the next election. It can do this with TVN24 (it has succeeded many times), but it may not succeed in the absence of Internet control. Perhaps the next installment of the battle for control in the media will be in this space. The station, which is the subject of Lex TVN, will become a forbidden fruit once the new law is passed. This means that its popularity – contrary to the assumptions of the new law – is likely to soar.
by Damian Grimling | May 10, 2021 | SentiBrand
The topic of vaccines, and specifically the differences between them, arouses great emotion. Analysis of Google search phrases shows that the public is still looking for information on the differences between preparations of different manufacturers. “Which vaccine to choose?”, “Moderna or Pfizer?” – are just some of them. This time we took to the workshop conversations of Internet users about five preparations. We explored the emotions and sentiment between them to see how they differ.
Pfizer or Moderna, or which vaccine to choose?
The material analyzed by our team represents a total of nearly 190,000 mentions of five vaccine manufacturers between January 1 and May 6, 2021. Content about specific manufacturers was filtered out of discussions about COVID-19 vaccines overall. Using the SentiTool tool, it only took a few minutes to get the full results.
Preparations were most often discussed by Internet users under articles on news sites. The second place in terms of discussion sites was Twitter, followed by Facebook. On news portals, Internet users discussed AstraZeneca most often. This is also where a lot of opinions about the Sputnik-V vaccine from Russia were reported online. On Twitter and Facebook, but also in other places, it was Pfizer. These two vaccines are among the most commented on.
The graph of discussion dynamics (monthly data) shows that the AstraZeneca controversy has had its effect. This vaccine was discussed very intensively – most often in March this year. Johnson&Johnson was the least discussed. It is worth noting that in a significant number of opinions there were more names of preparations.
COVID-19 vaccines – a comparison. Sentiment and emotion
When looking at the differences in sentiment of opinion of a given vaccine versus the others, two extremes are clearly visible. Johnson’s was the most positively commented on during the study period. In contrast, the most negative statements were reported around Sputnik-V. The controversy around vaccine reactions after AstraZeneca’s vaccine ultimately did not impair the online image. More unfavorable content was seen from Pfizer, which may come as a surprise.
DIFFERENCES IN OPINION SENTIMENT BETWEEN VACCINES DURING THE STUDY PERIOD
Differences in the intensity of negative and positive sentiment inopinions on COVID-19 formulations. The graph shows how sentiment differed for each vaccine from the other four
This preparation is one of the most popular among Poles and it is with this preparation that citizens most often want to be vaccinated. This may have been influenced by the co-occurrence of other preparation names together with Pfizer. This is because we are primarily examining the general climate of online discussion around the products of pharmaceutical companies. Thus the graph below shows how opinions on one preparation could have influenced the discussion climate around another preparation on the basis of co-occurrence. Moderna and AstraZeneca co-occurred most frequently with Pfizer.
Co-occurrence analysis of formulations in online reviews
The chart below breaks the positive and negative sentiment into eight base emotions for an even closer look at vaccine opinions. Sputnik-V differed from the other formulations with a high dose of disgust (about 13% more than the others) from internet users, while Pfizer differed with fear and sadness. AstraZeneca reported a slight increase in confidence and expectation. With the same emotions, single-dose Johnson differed from the rest most on the plus side (with strong decreases in negative emotions relative to competitors). As for Moderna, there is little difference from the other four formulations against COVID-19.
The above analysis is illustrative and informative. It does not reflect the full results of the study.
