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Emotion is the latest currency in the war for customers and loyalty. More and more brands are pulling at heartstrings and focusing on emotion to win more customers. Of course, keeping, not just winning, a customer is actually the hard part – but even that goes back to emotions. A key part of earning loyalty is fully understanding a customer’s needs, desires and feelings.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at a few recent examples of companies that have successfully used emotion to connect with their customers – the first step in building a strong and lasting customer relationship. These brands have touched on everything from our competitive nature to our sappy sides to win over customers’ hearts.

1. Make it Competitive 

Since our first days on the pee-wee soccer field, everyone has loved winning. That’s why Kohl’s scored big-time last Black Friday when they paired their shopping program with a Twitter contest using the #Kohls sweeps hashtag.

Kohl’s had 101,290 tweets during the Black Friday period (this includes Thanksgiving), including over 91,000 that were during the peak promotional hours from 7 pm to 1 am on Thanksgiving night. On average, Kohl’s had 17% of the share of voice on any given hour during Black Friday, but during the promotional peak they held an average of 75%.

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Kohl’s secret was to not only generate buzz with their promotion, but to dangle a carrot.  As a customer, why wouldn’t you participate? Even just a chance at winning is appealing to all of us.

2. Remind People What Love Is 

With all the NFL turmoil in the 2014 season, Dove was smart to feature the ad below highlighting fatherly love. If you had a loving dad, this was a walk down memory lane. Otherwise, this ad grabs you and reminds you what you need to do for the next generation.

In fact, our research showed that Dove achieved a 94% positive sentiment and an extremely high volume of feedback for the ad. So next time you want to strike a chord with your audience, consider reminding them that “love is all you need.”

3. Give Them Something They’re Missing 

Carnival’s ad, created by the Atlanta office of BBDO, used a narration by JFK with the message of “Come Back to the Sea” which takes people back to the 60’s.

This nostalgia was an effective tactic, as the ad generated an 85% positive sentiment (the third highest of all Super Bowl ads) despite that fact that it caused a bit of an uproar in religious communities. It seems that the beautiful scenes and JFK together struck a chord, reminding marketers and advertisers that a trip down memory lane can be the perfect way to get customers to turn your way.

Along the same lines, the esurance commercial below featuring Bryan Cranston dressed as Walter White from Breaking Bad gave people a minute of what they can no longer have now that the show is a wrap.

The show, which started with a cult following and ended up taking the nation by storm,  also boasted the power to generate a hugely positive steam of sentiment.

When you give your customers something they are missing, you demonstrate your depth of understanding – something that is critical when it comes to winning and keeping customers.

4. Let Animals Do the Talking For You

Out of all the ads from Super Bowl Sunday, Budweiser’s Puppy Ad garnered the most feedback, snagging a 35% share of voice. Put this next to Google’s Android ad featuring animals across different species playing together and watch the magic happen. My 12-year-old who watches entirely too much TV declared it “The Best Ad Ever!” He may be right – I think it’s at least it’s up there in the top ten.

The message I read into it is that you can be one species and still love another. Maybe the animals have taught me to consider products outside of Apple products or to give Budweiser a try again. Either way, it is clear that animal love evokes positive emotions that can win the hearts of young and old alike.

Of course, winning hearts takes more than an ad; a consistently positive experience from discovery to shopping to use to return is key. But appealing to the right customer emotions early on in the experience can put you on the right path to winning not just customer hearts, but also customer wallets.

As leader of the Clarabridge marketing team, Susan Ganeshan defines the brand, leads the charge for educational, useful content, and enables both Clarabridge and its partners to promote and deliver on the promise of customer centricity.