Why Emotionally Connected Customers Spend 2× More
- Titus Maclaren
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
You’re in a clothing store.
You slip on a shirt.
You feel confident. Proud. A new you.
And in that instant, you’ve already decided: I want this.
But then you feel guilty. So you start thinking of reasons to justify it:
Well, I don’t have anything in this colour.
This would finally go with those pants that don’t go with anything.
Plus, I didn’t buy anything last week…
This is how buying works. We decide emotionally, then justify with logic.
Are there any brands that just mean more to you? Social accounts that you'll stop to read every time?
Harvard Business Review found emotionally connected customers are worth 52% more over their lifetime than customers who are merely “satisfied.”
Satisfaction is fading. Emotion lasts.
Satisfaction is the floor, not the ceiling
Most marketers are chasing the wrong finish line.
They’re obsessed with satisfaction scores, NPS bumps, service SLAs. All important — but all baseline.
Satisfaction is just the floor.
Nobody raves about “good enough.”
You don’t tell your friends: “The airline successfully transported me from Point A to Point B as promised.”
You tell them: “They surprised me with champagne when my seat broke.”
Disappointment > Frustration > Surprise > Relief > Exuberance.
The “Trailer Problem” we kept seeing
When we started analysing other businesses’ social media for emotion-led posts, we kept noticing the same thing over and over.
Some videos had huge view counts - thousands, even hundreds of thousands - but engagement was flat. It was sitting in the low end of average, or lower.
People were watching... but not caring.
And when we watched them, it wasn't hard to see why:
These videos were basically trailers with no movie.
The title and caption SHOWed the FEELing to come. They promised excitement, awe, inspiration.
But the video itself never DELIVERed on that promise.
It’s like a trailer that promises a laugh riot but when you actually watch it you realise all the good jokes were in the trailer.
They were signalling emotion, but never letting the audience feel it.
That’s when we built our FEEL → SHOW → DELIVER framework — to help brands close that emotional gap.
The FEEL → SHOW → DELIVER framework
That’s when we built our own rule:
FEEL – Decide the core emotion you want your audience to feel. Pride? Relief? Belonging? Excitement?
SHOW – Signal that emotion in the first 3 seconds. Use copy, captions, opening shots that tell the audience what ride they’re on.
DELIVER – Actually create that emotional experience. Follow through with story, visuals, dialogue, music, pacing, and payoff.
Our clients find that when they stick to this, the shift is immediate.
Engagement climbs. Likes, comments, and shares surge. People aren't just watching anymore — they're feeling.
Because like any good film, your content has to deliver on the promise of the premise.
The neuroscience behind why this works
Let’s zoom out for a second.
Neurologically, feelings fire first, thoughts come second. Antonio Damasio’s research showed that decision-making without emotion is basically impossible — patients with brain damage that blocked emotional processing couldn’t make simple choices.
Harvard’s Gerald Zaltman estimates that 95% of a purchasing decision happen subconsciously, driven by emotion, then wrapped in a veneer of logic.
That’s why your audience rationalises after the fact. They didn’t buy the shirt because it matched the pants. They bought it because they felt proud in it — and the pants story was just their brain playing catch-up.
Emotion in movies, ads, and your next campaign
This isn’t just consumer behaviour in shops — it’s universal storytelling.
We cry when Mufasa dies not because he dies, but because we saw him play with Simba first. That’s set-up and pay-off.
We cheer when Rocky runs the stairs because we’ve lived his struggle. That’s relatibility and catharsis.
We laugh at Michael Scott because he’s painfully human. That’s vulnerability.
The same mechanics work in ads. The best campaigns don’t lecture you with facts. They make you feel something — joy, relief, pride, belonging — and then tie that feeling to the brand.
Practical audit for CMOs & marketing managers
Here’s how to test your campaigns with FEEL → SHOW → DELIVER:
FEEL – Do we know the emotion?
SHOW – Do we promise it clearly?
DELIVER – Do we pay it off?
Pro tip: run your next script or video through this test. If any stage is missing, you’ve built another trailer without a movie.
Case snapshots
Nike – “You Can’t Stop Us” (2020)
FEEL: Determination and unity.
SHOW: Split-screen visuals of athletes across different sports instantly cue grit and perseverance.
DELIVER: The seamless edit — 36 athletes completing one motion — pays off the promise of unstoppable human spirit.
Apple – “Shot on iPhone: The Greatest” (2022)
FEEL: Pride and empowerment.
SHOW: Real people filming cinematic moments — ordinary yet heroic.
DELIVER: The final montage of achievements closes the emotional loop: anyone can create something great.
Google – “Year in Search” (2023)
FEEL: Collective empathy and reflection.
SHOW: Opens with a single search query like “how to heal” — instantly signalling shared humanity.
DELIVER: Emotional payoffs come as real-world moments of resilience and hope unfold, proving that data can move hearts.
Each starts with an emotional signal and ends with an emotional payoff. That’s the essence of FEEL → SHOW → DELIVER — and why audiences don’t just watch, they remember.
The takeaway
Satisfied customers are fine. But emotionally connected customers? They’re loyalists, evangelists, and sometimes even fanatics.
They don’t just buy your shirt. They wear it, flaunt it, and tell everyone about your brand.
So if you want to leap from “happy” to “hardcore loyal,” stop thinking like a statistician and start thinking like a storyteller.
Ask:
What’s the emotion we’re selling?
How are we signalling it?
Are we delivering it?
FEEL → SHOW → DELIVER. That’s how you move audiences. That’s how you build brands.
👉 At Black Iris Films, this isn’t theory — it’s our playbook. We make videos that don’t just rack up views, but get engagement, that translates to revenue. Why? Because we deliver on the promise of the premise. Because in the end, emotion isn’t a soft extra. It’s the engine of every decision your audience makes.
Curious? Have a chat with a commercial filmmaker today!
