Emailing is one of the most effective methods for engaging an audience, yet the competition to capture the recipient’s attention is fiercer than ever. To stand out in crowded inboxes, you must master the art of words and use emotional triggers that captivate attention, arouse curiosity, and stimulate conversions.
In this article, we explain the impact of these magic words and how to integrate them into your emailing strategy.
What is an Emotional Trigger?
An emotional trigger is a stimulus, whether visual, auditory, linguistic, or otherwise, capable of eliciting a behavior or an emotional reaction in a person. Triggers are often associated with past experiences, memories, beliefs, or personal values.
In the context of marketing and communication, emotional triggers are used to evoke specific emotions in the audience in order to create emotional connections with a brand, product, or message. These triggers can vary depending on the desired objective, whether it’s to awaken curiosity, create a sense of urgency, evoke positive or negative emotions, or establish a personal connection with the recipient.
The Power of Emotions
Emotions play a central role in the human decision-making process. Integrating trigger words that evoke positive emotions such as joy, happiness or success or negative emotions like fear, loss, or regret, can provoke a response in recipients. The idea is to find the right words to use to elicit the sought emotion.
Interestingly, a survey conducted by Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author, demonstrated that strong emotions compel individuals to share content with others. Whether the emotions are positive or negative, they help increase the transmission of the message.
In emailing, the judicious use of emotional triggers can greatly enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns by garnering attention, creating engagement, and encouraging conversions.
Which Emotional Triggers to Use?
Wondering which emotions to use? Let’s start with the basics of the eight primary emotions identified by American psychologist Robert Plutchik in 1980 with his wheel of emotions: joy, fear, disgust, anger, sadness, surprise, trust, and anticipation. Here you have a good starting point.
Here are some effective emotional triggers to integrate into your emails:
Curiosity, Surprise, and Anticipation
- New
- Discover
- Reveal
- Secret
- Exclusive
- Craving
- Excitement
- Forgotten
- Inspiration
- Desire
- Mystery
- Surprising
- Astonishing
- Spectacular
- Remarkable
- Enchanting
Words that awaken curiosity, surprise, or anticipation, entice the recipient to open their email to quench their thirst for knowledge. They generate immediate interest, stimulate interaction, and significantly increase the chances that the message will be read.
Urgency and Action
- Free
- Exclusive
- Now
- Last Chance
- Limited Offer
- Only
- Just
- Don’t wait any longer
- Hurry
The call to action is essential in any successful emailing strategy. Using words like the ones listed above creates a sense of urgency that motivates the recipient to act immediately.
Integrate these trigger words sparingly to avoid appearing too pushy, but sufficiently to provoke action.
Positive Emotions
- Joy
- Happiness
- Success
- Satisfaction
Positive emotions in emailing messages help capture attention, promote engagement, and strengthen memorability. By creating an emotional connection with the recipient, they contribute to a positive brand image, influence purchasing, and reduce resistance to the sale.
Negative Emotions
- Fear
- Loss
- Regret
- Abuse
- Anxiety
- Exhaustion
- Failure
- Panic
- Shame
- Boring
As for negative emotions, they can be useful for creating a sense of urgency, highlighting problems to solve, or encouraging avoidance of potential risks. However, use these words in moderation, as an excess of negative emotions can have the opposite effect by generating an unfavorable reaction.
Trust and Reliability
- Proven
- Safety
- Guaranteed
- Risk-free
- Infallible
- Reliable
- Research-backed
- Trustworthy
These triggers are used to establish a trust relationship with recipients. They reinforce the credibility of the brand, reduce perceived uncertainty, and encourage taking action.
Other Triggers
Other words also act as emotional triggers on recipients, for example, personalization words (you, your), reward words (congratulations, reward), and words appealing to the senses (taste, see, hear, touch, smell).
Emotional triggers are a powerful weapon in the arsenal of a successful emailing strategy. However, it’s important to tailor them to your audience, your product or service, and maintain authenticity in your communication. Avoid overusing triggers and ban forbidden words from your newsletter, and ensure they are in harmony with your brand image to create a consistent and positive experience for your recipients.
