Emotional Bias in Customer Relations

Stop treating your prospects like calculators. I learned this lesson painfully while leading the launch of a new solution for a healthcare transformation organization. The CEO and SVP of Product Innovation were well-intentioned, but they had biases that fueled their convictions. “Show them the science and ROI. Once they see the data, they’ll switch,” said the CEO. “They’ll switch?” I asked curiously. They rarely switched for the logic. They often resisted because we didn’t understand the emotion that tied them to maintaining the status quo. Most B2B marketers still build journeys on the idea that buyers only care about features, scientific studies, and ROI models. But real people buy with their hearts as much as their heads. LinkedIn's B2B Institute found that emotional factors significantly influence B2B buying decisions, accounting for 66%, while rational factors account for the remaining 34%. When you act like every decision is a math problem, you miss the emotional needs and biases that drive action. Fear of missing out. Desire for security. The endorsement of a trusted referral. Those feelings tip the scales long before spreadsheets ever come out. Three quick shifts to make your GTM more human: 💡 Map emotions, not just touchpoints. Ask: What’s the buyer afraid of at each stage? What small win can calm that fear? Use stories to build trust. 💡 Data is important. But a 2-minute customer story about real struggle and success sticks far longer. 💡 Frame decisions around loss-aversion. “Don’t lose your edge” often lands harder than “gain more efficiency.” When you blend hard facts with a genuine understanding of how people feel, you’ll see faster decisions and deeper loyalty. Takeaway: Your next user journey should start with these questions: ✔️ “How do we show up in our customers' struggles? ✔️ "Do they see us as relevant?” ✔️ Can they see their lives as being better because of our help? Build from there. #businessgrowth #GTM #buyerjourney #CMO

Most deals aren't lost to competitors. They're not lost to price. They're not even lost to product gaps. Both deals and customer success are blocked by something far more powerful: → Hidden buyer biases that prevent even the most needed changes. When prospects ghost you or say 'maybe later,' you're not battling logic—you're battling human nature. And in that battle lies your greatest opportunity: ✨ → To understand these patterns and lead your customers forward. The reality is clear: ↳Customers need to make changes. ↳Great gains await them. ↳But psychological barriers hold them back from their own success. The best sellers understand this deeply. ↳They don't just spot these biases... ↳They create intentional paths to help customers move past them. 🎯 Here are the 5 deadliest biases and your roadmap to overcome them: 1️⃣ Status Quo Bias: The Comfort Zone Trap → Even broken systems feel 'safe' → Logic says yes, but emotions scream 'stay put' Your Move: ↳Share success stories of similar companies ↳Offer low-risk trials ↳ Build a phased approach 2️⃣ Loss Aversion: When Fear Wins → Potential losses feel 2x stronger than gains → 'Cost of inaction' beats 'future benefits' Your Move: ↳Highlight current money left on the table ↳ Show competitors pulling ahead ↳ Frame change as avoiding loss  3️⃣ Choice Overload: Less is More → A confused mind says no → Too many options = decision paralysis Your Move: ↳Present max 3 options ↳ Make clear recommendations ↳ Simplify the decision path 4️⃣ Trust Gap: The Credibility Crisis → Buyers enter skeptical → No trust = no sale Your Move: ↳ Lead with insights, not pitches ↳ Share relevant case studies ↳ Be radically transparent 5️⃣ Effort Aversion: Make it Easy → Complex = No Decision → The brain avoids heavy lifting Your Move: ↳ Show clear implementation path ↳ Offer done-for-you solutions ↳ Map out customer success journey ✅The Path Forward: ↳Master These Biases = Lead With Understanding ↳Now, Let's Turn That Understanding Into Action These aren't just biases to recognize... ↳They're opportunities to differentiate yourself through deeper customer understanding. When you master these patterns, you: → Serve your customers at a deeper level → Guide them past psychological blockers → Help them achieve the changes they need to make Because in the end, sales isn't about battling these biases... It's about understanding them so well that you can create clear paths to customer success. 👇 Which bias do you see holding your customers back the most? Share below and let's discuss strategies that serve. ↗️ Save this post - it's your roadmap to better customer conversations ➕ Follow Holly Moe for strategies on leading your customers to success

Traditional approaches to explaining customer behavior are no longer enough to ensure your company remains on the cutting edge. 🫢   Innovative solutions require fresh approaches to penetrating layers of conventional wisdom.   And that begins by acknowledging that the motivations your customers act on are seldom logical, predictable, or even conscious.   Instead, their strongest responses stem from one source: emotion.   Numerous studies, including two conducted by Gallup, have documented that over 70% of all B2B and B2C customer decisions are driven by emotion.   It’s a deceptively simple reality yet one that many companies often resist preferring instead to concentrate exclusively on seemingly quantifiable metrics because they seem safe and reliable.   But whether customers are consumers or other businesses, all customers are people. And people are emotional beings.   That’s why the best data in the world isn’t necessarily indicative of how they’ll respond.   Traditional research techniques are often unproductive because they generate predictable confirmation of a pre-conceived hypothesis.   Old methods are designed to measure rather than inform and therefore may fail to uncover genuine insights.   Frequently they focus on mapping reactions against existing services, products or internally based assumptions.   Emotional Trigger Research is a methodology that exposes the core, unfiltered and spontaneous triggers that drive behavior.   These triggers provide actionable intelligence that will enable your business to convert emotional considerations into winning marketing strategies.   Based on an indirect approach that features provocative open-ended questions paired with in-depth one-on-one conversations, the results are uniquely spontaneous and enlightening.   When asked the unexpected, most customers have no ready answers. Consequently their unplanned responses are more revealing, providing the most authentic window into the emotional triggers that explain their actions.   Emotional Trigger Research transcends the superficiality of what customers say to the far deeper level of what they really mean.   As the Pioneer of Emotional Trigger Research and Author of “Why Customers Really Buy: Uncovering the Emotional Triggers That Drive Sales”, I’ve spent my career helping CEOs and Owners of U.S. based companies leverage customer emotions to generate over $100 million in additional sales.   If you’d like to innovate a competitive marketing strategy that resonates with your customers emotionally, DM me and let’s chat.   Illustration: Your Marketing Rules    Ring the 🔔 on my profile to follow Linda Goodman for marketing strategy and business development content.   #MarketingStrategy #Sales #BusinessDevelopment #EmotionalTriggerResearch #Leadership #CEO #Entrepreneurship

Good luck retaining clients if you don't understand this: And not the way you think. ➡ Reciprocity bias. Everyone knows Cialdini's research on reciprocity from "Influence." Give something, get something back. The problem? You are timing it wrong. Founders deploy reciprocity at renewal time. 👉🏻 Free months.  👉🏻 Bonus features.  👉🏻 Desperate gestures. This activates loss aversion, not reciprocity. Your client smells fear. Real reciprocity happens during delivery. 🔥 When you make them look prescient to their board. 🔥 When you prevent their failure without taking credit. 🔥 When you solve their unspoken problem before they ask. These create psychological debt that compounds monthly. By renewal time,  saying no feels like betrayal. Because now, the debt is relational. And here, reciprocity bias works in reverse. The obligation would already have been established.

𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝘀. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 : 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁 I recently had a humorous debate with a startup founder in the medical retail space about the traditional 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 of the step-by-step path from “𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶?” to “𝘚𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺!” - and how it’s slowly fading. Pointed out that decisions are rarely driven by logic alone - 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗹. That’s where 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 steps in, adding depth to the modern customer journey by capturing what customers 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 at every step, not just what they 𝘥𝘰. 𝗦𝗼, 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲? 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆: Tracks actions - Click, Buy, Install, Complain, Repeat. Basically, it’s the 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝘀 of user behavior. 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴: Tracks 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 - Excitement, Confusion, Frustration, Relief, Joy. Think of it as the 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 playing in their heads throughout the journey. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿? Because no one remembers what they clicked. But they 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹, Clicks fade from memory, but emotions stick - kind of like the joy of finding extra onions in your biryani order! Refer Swiggy or Zomato. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆: 1. Search for food. 2. Select restaurant. 3. Place order. 4. Track delivery. 5. Eat happily. 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴: 1. Hunger Craving – Excited! 2. Menu Browsing – Confused. Too many options! 3. Checkout Price – Shocked. Swiggy, why you do this? 4. Order Tracking – Anxiety. Why is the delivery guy circling ? 5. Food Arrives – Relief and Joy! 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝗵? 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Attach emotional states to each step of the customer journey. 𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁: Like adding “Cash on Delivery” for Indian parents who still don’t trust online payments. 𝗔𝗱𝗱 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀: Surprise discounts or funny delivery updates - because who doesn’t love a “𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘪 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦!” text? Customer Journeys tell you 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 customers do. Emotional Mapping tells you 𝘄𝗵𝘆 they do it - and why they sometimes rage - quit in the middle. Combine both, and you’ll build products that customers don’t just use - they 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 for. #productgyan #customersatisfaction #uiux #customerjourney #emotionalmapping #customerservice #productengineering