People Shop With Their Hearts

It’s bike buying season, at least at my house.

Between my two racing kids and myself, there’s always something we “need”. (Ahem, maybe my wife thinks otherwise?!)

With racing machines, a lot of research goes into picking the right ride. A lot of rational thinking. A lot of clear thought.

So when we left the shop with an unplanned extra bike the other day, I realized I was a walking example of what we talk about a lot at Walden Hyde:

People shop with their hearts.

It’s pretty darn well established that consumers don’t make rational decisions, at least not as often as economic models would like them to.

And it’s hard to apply the concept of love to purchase behavior. But, you know what? It’s there.

Whether at the grocery store or shopping for new gear, our hearts often win out over our minds.

As a brand, finding the connection to consumers’ hearts isn’t typically something that finds itself a line in the budget. But it might just be that missing part you’ve been searching for.

Here are three things that you can do as a brand to build the love:

  1. Know what your consumers want and expect from you, and then over-deliver
  2. Create a clear and differentiated POV—drive your own message across your owned channels
  3. Be relentless in driving your top of funnel brand narrative

Finally, make sure that your internal teams know the importance of these three areas of focus so the organization doesn’t stray from supporting them.