The Gist
- EI drives engagement. Emotional intelligence in marketing helps CMOs create campaigns that deeply resonate with customers, fostering stronger emotional connections and loyalty.
- Trust through transparency. Utilizing EI strengthens brand authenticity, aligning values with customer expectations and building long-term trust.
- Bias reduction tools. EI aids in recognizing and managing cognitive biases, leading to more inclusive and effective marketing strategies.
When I finished my study as a professional certified coach (PCC) — my niche being leadership, communication and business — I started revisiting various aspects of marketing that keep the consumer at the center of the flywheel. Unsurprisingly, emotional intelligence in marketing came across as a vital force for the experience that marketers are responsible for creating.
At the heart of every successful customer experience lies emotional intelligence (EI) — the ability to recognize, understand and manage emotions in oneself and others. For CMOs, practicing EI isn’t just a nice-to-have but a necessity to create campaigns that resonate deeply with consumers.
Based on my experience, here are the top three reasons for why EI is pivotal to exceptional customer experience in modern marketing.
1. Emotional Intelligence Helps CMOs Understand Customer Needs ‘Beyond Data’
Data-driven insights have become a cornerstone of marketing strategy, but data alone doesn’t capture the complexity of human emotion and behavior. Emotional intelligence in marketing helps marketers go beyond the numbers to truly understand the emotional drivers behind customer behavior. By tapping into empathy — one of the core elements of EI — CMOs can better interpret customer pain points, desires and frustrations.
Empathetic marketers are more likely to create campaigns that resonate on a personal level, leading to stronger emotional connections with the brand. In fact, a recent Forbes article reported that 82% of customers with high emotional engagement are more likely to stay loyal to a brand. This loyalty translates into higher lifetime value for companies and significantly enhances the customer experience.
I was once tasked with leading a customer retention campaign for a global tech company. The team initially focused heavily on transactional data — purchase frequency, customer demographics and average spend.
However, the campaign didn’t hit the mark. After spending time speaking directly with customers and understanding their frustrations, we realized the emotional disconnect. The product didn’t address certain “unspoken” concerns. We then shifted our focus to empathy and customer emotions in the campaign, leading to a 15% increase in retention rates.
Related Article: Unlock Amazing CX with Emotional Intelligence
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2. Building Trust Through Emotional Intelligence in Marketing
The 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer report found that 61% of consumers expect brands to be transparent about their values and business practices. Leaders who leverage emotional intelligence in marketing can better align their brand’s values with those of their customers, creating an emotional connection that leads to long-term loyalty. Whether it’s responding to a customer complaint or delivering a new product launch, authenticity driven by emotional intelligence is key to maintaining trust in the brand.
To effectively build a performance-driven brand and ensure that marketing performance is aligned with brand goals, firms need to develop metrics that assess the impact of both brand-building and performance marketing efforts on a unified key metric: brand equity.
Now, to me, trust is the foundation of any successful brand equity, which generally stems from brand-customer relationships. EI enables CMOs to consistently have authentic, human-centric communication, which is critical for building trust. Customers today are more informed and skeptical than ever before, making authenticity non-negotiable. EI helps marketers maintain transparency, acknowledge mistakes and respond with care in their messaging, fostering a deep sense of trust.
Reflective journaling is a useful EI exercise for CMOs that they can integrate into their marketing strategy. After every major campaign, they should spend time reflecting on how personal biases might have influenced the campaign’s tone or messaging.
Related Article: Building Customer Trust: The Only Currency in the Age of AI
3. Managing Biases with Emotional Intelligence in Marketing
This is one of my favorite areas of study: types of biases and the way they impact consumer decision-making. Cognitive biases can subtly influence marketing decisions, leading to campaigns that may misalign with customer needs. Emotional intelligence can help CMOs recognize and manage these biases, ensuring that campaigns are objective and emotionally resonant with a diverse customer base. Biases such as confirmation bias (favoring information that supports one’s preconceived notions) or the halo effect (allowing one positive attribute to overshadow other factors) can distort marketing strategies.
A recent study published by Harvard Business School (2022) found that 74% of CMOs who actively engage in EI development report fewer instances of bias in their decision-making. By acknowledging and addressing cognitive biases through emotional intelligence, CMOs can build more inclusive, customer-centric campaigns that speak to a broader audience.
Here is an EI exercise for bias management: One effective technique for CMOs is to engage in “perspective-taking” exercises. Before finalizing a campaign, ask team members to role-play as different customer personas, each with unique emotional needs and cultural backgrounds. This exercise helps reduce the impact of unconscious biases and ensures that campaigns are crafted to meet the diverse emotional needs of the entire customer base, rather than just the target demographic perceived through a biased lens.
Marketers who prioritize emotional intelligence in marketing will be the ones that stand out, not just for the products they sell but for the experiences they create.
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