How few words and symbols make a big difference in consumers’ perception

Every day we receive an average more than 50 e-mails and we are able to scroll through hundreds of tweets, Instagram photos or Youtube advertising. In a study conducted some time ago, it was found that people spend on average between 2 to 3 hours per day in front of a screen (TV, Cell Phone, Computer, Tablet, etc.)

Persado is an American company based in New York, which analyzed content from 100 different marketing campaigns and came to the conclusion that the language of marketing can be divided into 5 elements.

1. Emotional language: is usually present in 61.1% of messages and it is therefore considered the most important and the most used.
2. Functional language: present in 31.4% of the messages, includes calls to action.
3. The descriptive, with a 17.38% participation, serves to define the product or service offered.
4. The formatting language present with 14.05% using the style elements to transmit the message with different letter styles or emojis, among other things.
5. The positioning elements, with an 11.8% participation, defines the structure of the message.

For example, if you want to buy a bottle of wine but you are not an expert on this topic and have no idea whether the wine is burgundy, sweet, dry or light, then once in the wine section with the budget to spend in mind, you will probably start by assessing the label that attracts more your attention and simultaneously checking the year when it was made (just because someone told you that: the older the wine, the better). Finally, you start reading what is written down on the label, and that might be the last step to make your purchase decision.

The same path could be taken to buy food in the supermarkets, if you are deciding between two similar products with almost the same price, you will surely pick the package that contains the best description of the product and the most positive words.

In addition, if we talk about the advertising posters that we find on the most popular routes, either on trains or buses, we will stop to notice those that are attractive to the eye by using short phrases that allow us to understand the advertising in less than 5 seconds. Summarizing, a marketing campaign is not only intended to affect consumers’ buying behavior, but also their perception of the brand and the opinion they share, which might or might not impact on other buyers. Therefore, it is necessary that even in the smallest points of contact, the message must be in line with what you want to communicate.

How do we remember the words…

The most important thing about a message is what it delivers since the impact can be irreversible, either positive or negative depending on how the message is transmitted.

There is a refrain that says: “It’s not what you say but how you say it”. I learned by hearth this refrain as my mother used to always tell me so. Thus, it is not easy to tell the very first words that pop into your mind, you have to use marketing at this time to think about what you really want to communicate and give it the right sound according to the situation. It’s necessary to use expressions in order to highlight the message you are trying to transmit. How useful is marketing, right?

The words we daily receive have an impact on how we remember or associate things and how we store them in our memory.

Sometimes the obvious is not exactly what works, for instance using hearts on Valentine’s Day will not always improve engagement results.