“Say-Feel Gap”

Most of our decisions are driven by emotions rather than logic. Emotions come before rational thinking, influencing our choices more than we realize. Despite valuing rationality, we're still deeply connected to our primitive instincts. Nonverbal cues like images play a big role in how we think, often overshadowing formal reasoning. Surprisingly, only a tiny fraction of our thinking—less than 0.0005%—is truly rational.

To boost sales, and profits, and keep both customers and staff happy, you need to understand their emotions. It's all about offering something unique that connects with them emotionally. People often say one thing and feel another, creating a gap between words and actions. This gap influences whether they buy from you, shop at your store, or work hard for your company. People tend to give answers they think others want to hear, rather than what they truly feel. This makes their responses, like their product choices, less reliable. So, to succeed, you need to bridge this gap and tap into their real emotions.

Close the Say-Feel Gap

The gap between what people say and what they truly feel often arises from their need to justify their actions with excuses. This gap can harm businesses when leaders fail to recognize it. Sales, productivity, and both customer and employee satisfaction can suffer as a result.

Facial coding is a powerful tool for understanding how people truly feel. By analyzing facial muscle activity, we can uncover preferences for things like TV ads, print ads, and direct mail. This method allows us to gauge emotions accurately and use them to our advantage in marketing. Research shows that emotions carry more weight than facts in purchasing decisions, with a study of 23,000 U.S. consumers revealing that emotions are twice as influential. So, by tapping into people's emotions, we can tailor our marketing strategies for maximum impact and success.

To sway people's opinions, it's not enough to stick to your message in ads, promotions, and employee guidelines. You've got to tap into their emotions. Convincing folks to change their views is tough. So, instead, appeal straight to their feelings. Then, back it up with logic in your ads or when talking to your team.

 â€œSeven Core Emotions”

Since the 19th century, scientists like Charles Darwin and Guillaume Duchenne have been diving into the meanings behind human facial expressions. In the 1960s, Paul Ekman took it further with his Facial Action Coding System (FACS). Ekman found out people's facial expressions are  “stable, ubiquitous and uniform.”This means they're super reliable. And guess what? Our faces can reveal seven main emotions:

1. “Surprise”: Even babies show this! When someone is surprised, their eyes widen, their eyebrows go up, and their mouth opens. Their face looks like it's stretching both upwards and downwards.
2. “Fear”: This is a big one, especially in business. When someone is afraid, their face goes pale. Their eyes and chin widen, their lips pull back, and their eyebrows go up and in. Their jaw might even drop open.
3. “Anger”: You've probably seen this one before, maybe in a customer service situation. When someone is angry, their face seems to tighten up. Sometimes it even turns red! Their eyebrows come down and together, their eyes narrow, and their lips might tighten or form a sort of funnel shape.
4. “Sadness”: In stores, feeling this way often leads to "buyer's regret." At work, it can make employees feel disconnected. You'll notice drooping faces and lips, giving off a sad expression. Forehead wrinkles make a person look tired. Eyebrows droop and inner corners rise a bit, while the corners of the eyes scrunch up. The lines between the nostrils and mouth corners deepen.
5. “Disgust”: When people experience this feeling, they tend to move away from the thing that bothers them. Their nose wrinkles, their upper lip lifts, sometimes creating an "upside-down smile," and their lower lip pulls down and away. 
6. “Contempt”: Contempt is a deadly emotion in business situations. It's when someone tightens their lips and lifts one side of their face, creating a pocket in their cheek like the eye of a hurricane. Contempt is a one-sided expression, with the left side of the face being more expressive than the right. The corner of the mouth curls into a sneer, the upper lip rises, and the eyes may partly close and turn away. 
7. “Happiness”: This is the only positive emotion of the bunch. It's called the "true smile" or the "Duchenne smile." When you see it, the eyes light up with a special sparkle. Little lines form near the eyes, called crow's-feet. The upper eyelid drops slightly, and the skin under the eye might crinkle up. The cheeks lift, and the corners of the mouth turn up and out.

Beyond the seven primary emotions, there are around 30 secondary emotions. These include feelings like happiness, relief, pride, revenge, fascination with death, longing, and a sense of longing for the past.

Social smile 
Be cautious of smiles that don’t truly show happiness, like the “social smile.” People can fake a smile by moving the muscles around their mouth, making it look like they're happy when they're not. But it’s harder to fake the muscles around the eyes. When someone does a social smile, their eyes don’t light up like they do when they’re genuinely happy. That’s why people say, “The eyes never lie.”

Watch out for "lying smiles" that don't involve the whole face; the cheeks stay flat and still, and the eyes don't narrow. Lying smiles show more on one side of the face. Real smiles last about four seconds, but lying smiles last longer, about five to 10 seconds, with odd timing. They either start or end too quickly, or they come too early or late. You can tell if someone's lying by looking at whether their expression matches what they're saying.

Facial coding mechanics

In video interviews, researchers capture every facial expression. Trained analysts then carefully examine the footage, breaking it down into tiny increments as short as 1/30 of a second. This meticulous process gives businesses a precise understanding of how test subjects react emotionally.

The key focus lies in "emotional reaction." Did the individual react to or even notice what was presented in the test? Was the person actively engaged? Analysts assess the specific emotions felt by the individuals, the intensity of these feelings, and whether their responses were "positive, neutral, [or] negative." Emotions are always varied in their degree.

Understanding facial expressions is key to decoding how people react to what they see. Eye tracking, which records where people look and what they focus on, gives us this crucial insight. With this data, we can figure out how individuals respond to different parts of what they see. This kind of analysis helps companies ensure that their ads and messages really catch people's attention.

Emotions drive action

Understanding how people react to your ads helps you tweak them to inspire action. Emotions drive actions, so by changing how people feel, you can encourage them to buy your product. This insight allows for active learning and adjustments, leading to more effective marketing strategies.

Businesses use facial-coding analysis to grasp how people feel about ads, aiming to encourage positive actions. This method shows how emotions connect to five key behaviors crucial for business success: 

Here are five recurring behaviors in business:

• “Outcome orientation”: People's emotions show whether they're aiming for rewards or avoiding consequences.
• “Level of attention”: Only happiness or surprise means someone is really focused.
• “Action bias”: Emotions push people to act, but they might choose different actions.
• “Risk tolerance”: Happy, angry, and sad people are more willing to take risks.
• “Decision making”: Feeling surprised, scared, or sad can make it hard for people to make choices.

“The Emotional Matrix”

This tool helps companies figure out why people do things and how their emotions affect what they do. You can use it to look at business problems from a psychological angle, which can make people feel more connected and interested.

Understand the emotional matrix, It's all about four key motivations: defend, acquire, bond, and learn. For example, when you're angry, it's often because you're seeking control (that's the acquired vibe). And when you feel disgusted, it's like you're saying a big "nope" to an idea (learn), a person (bond), or even a thing (acquire). Now, let's apply this knowledge to improve what we do:

• “Branding”: Facial coding helps companies understand hard-to-measure concepts like loyalty. By analyzing facial expressions, businesses can figure out how to connect with customers emotionally, which is key for strong branding. This means linking what customers believe about themselves to what they believe about the brand. Creating a brand that people feel proud to be associated with. And pride is the big one when it comes to branding.
• “Offer design, packaging and usability”: According to business expert Tom Peters, the essence of design lies in evoking emotions. Packaging should engage our senses and tap into our subconscious feelings, aiming to make customers feel like winners after a purchase. One way to achieve this is by creating a sense of awe among both current and potential customers.
• “Advertising”: To make your advertising really effective, focus on stirring up a sense of awe in your potential customers. This goes beyond just making them aware of your product or service. Your ads should make them truly consider what you're offering and ultimately convince them to make a purchase. Make sure the visuals and ideas in your ads resonate with what your potential customers care about emotionally.
• “Sales”: Revamp your sales strategy by highlighting how choosing your product or service is a smart and beneficial move for customers. Recruit sales staff who excel at connecting with customers on an emotional level. This relational approach is key for any sales team. Salespeople should be positive, tough, and empathetic. Look for job candidates who bring genuine smiles to the table during interviews and can handle rejection without getting too down.
• “Retail and service”: Dissatisfaction is a deeply personal feeling for customers. When they're unhappy, they don't just keep it to themselves; they tell everyone they know. The key is to make customers happy by offering excellent service. This boosts their confidence and makes them feel better. In customer service, the most important thing is making customers feel relieved.
• “Leadership”: Corporate leaders motivate employees by demonstrating success and a commitment to benefiting their team both emotionally and financially. When employees join a company, they blend their individuality into a larger group that promises rewards they couldn't achieve alone. However, this only works when leaders appear selfless and focused on the group's well-being. Leaders who act selfishly quickly push valuable employees away, sending them into the arms of competitors.
• “Employee management”: In managing employees, emotions play a huge role, unlike in other areas of business where rationality often rules. Surprisingly, research reveals that about half of new hires don't make it past the 18-month mark. To improve your chances of hiring successfully, consider analyzing candidates' facial expressions. But if that's not feasible, focus on assessing their emotional fit for the job.