{"id":25309,"date":"2017-01-26T03:37:43","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T09:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crazyeggblog.wpengine.com\/?p=25309"},"modified":"2026-01-06T15:14:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:14:52","slug":"emotional-motivator-drive-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crazyegg.com\/blog\/emotional-motivator-drive-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"How Emotional Motivators Can Drive Authentic Brand Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all remember what happened when Apple CEO Steve Jobs passed away, hundreds of thousands of people voluntarily lined up outside of Apple stores, flowers in hand. They were mourning the loss of a great tech visionary but also paying tribute to the creator of a brand that they felt a deep emotional connection to.<\/p>\n

Apple doesn’t just have a bigger market share than Microsoft (at least, with smartphones<\/a>), it pulls at the heartstrings of millions of consumers. It is true that supplying helpful information to customers will reduce buying risks and add practical value, but what\u2019s more powerful is your brand\u2019s ability provoke emotions in people, as Apple successfully does.<\/p>\n

\"value<\/p>\n

Research has shown that customers who fully connect with the brand demonstrate higher value<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not news that an emotional connection to a brand leads to higher customer lifetime value<\/a> and brand loyalty<\/a>. So why spend advertising dollars when you can get higher ROI on your brand equity by building a lasting emotional connection with your customers? <\/p>\n

In this post, we’ll take a customer-centric approach by looking at what emotional motivators drive human actions, and how to use this understanding to build the long-term value of your brand.<\/p>\n

1. Motivation – What Drives Our Action<\/h2>\n

Marketing success is all about modeling your target customer\u2019s behavior – whether it\u2019s trying a new product that\u2019s new to the market, choosing an alternative brand over a familiar brand, or staying loyal to the same product consistently over time. And behavior, without adequate motivation, will not be sustained<\/b>. Think of motivation as the driving force of your customers\u2019 lives – it gives them a sense of purpose and reason to act.<\/p>\n

So what drives our behavior? What compels us to act? Clark L. Hull<\/a> (1943) famously proposed the Global Theory of Behavior to describe what motivates behavior. Hull\u2019s theory tied in various factors in precise mathematical terms in this formula below:<\/p>\n

sEr = SHR \u00d7 D \u00d7 V \u00d7 K<\/center><\/p>\n

Here reaction potential<\/b> (sEr) is positively correlated to D (drive strength<\/b>), and drive strength is determined by a need state: the longer the subject is deprived of a need (such as food, water, sleep, etc.),\u00a0the higher the drive strength. <\/p>\n

Another factor that motivates behavior in Hull\u2019s framework is incentive<\/b>. If drive<\/em> urges us to act to increase a need that\u2019s lacking, incentive compels us by potentially decreasing this need in a predictable future. So in the case of eating, hunger as a drive increases the need for eating while the satiated state after eating acts as incentive.<\/p>\n

Another major scientific discovery on the role of motivation<\/b> is the 1948 hungry rat experiment<\/a> by psychologist Neal E. Miller<\/a>. In his experiment, the psychologist examined the behavior of both a satiated (well-fed) and a hungry rat. The hungry rat was motivated by hunger and successfully learned a new behavior when the reward<\/b> (food) was presented every time motivation (hunger) is triggered. The satiated rat, however, was not motivated by food. But when psychologist introduced a new trigger (electric shock), the satiated rat was motivated to act for the reward (reduce physical pain).<\/p>\n

[fve]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=L-DgV2vixSo[\/fve]<\/p>\n

What Miller added on to Hull\u2019s theory was the role of both an internal and external \u201creward\u201d in driving behavior. His experiments also showed that drive can be learned from environmental cues, as in the case of the satiated rat learning to reduce an artificially imposed \u201cdrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, the classical physiological behavior model is very much need-based and goal-oriented: it proposes that we are motivated to act to reduce the lack of a need to survive, so that we can:<\/p>\n