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How Emotion Acts as an Attention Magnet for Products
Why Product-Centric Storytelling often falls flat
Elliott Rayner
July 03, 2025
How Emotion Acts as an Attention Magnet For Products
What you will learn…
Part One - How stories trigger emotions?
Part Two - Why do our brains love it?
Part Three - Which brands do it best?
Part Four - How can PMMs amplify it?
The Emotion Wheel
Part One
The Science of Emotion in Decision-Making
In product marketing, the fastest way to be forgotten is to focus on facts. You can list every feature and still be forgotten. What sticks is how you make people feel. That’s the power of emotionally driven storytelling—because emotion, not logic, drives action.
Features inform. Stories persuade. But the most persuasive stories are the ones that stir emotion. That’s what creates connection—and drives decisions.
When a story triggers emotion, it sets off a chemical chain reaction in the brain. Cortisol heightens focus during moments of tension. Dopamine boosts motivation and reinforces memory through anticipation. Oxytocin builds trust and emotional connection.
Good storytelling carefully sequences these reactions. Tension keeps us engaged, anticipation makes us care, and connection makes us believe. If your story isn’t triggering these emotions, it’s triggering indifference.
Why Product-Centric Storytelling Falls Flat
Despite the science, much of product marketing remains allergic to emotion. It’s heavy on features, rational arguments, and safe messaging. The problem? People don’t buy features. They buy better versions of themselves.
When you focus your story solely on what your product does, you’re asking customers to think. When you focus on how your product makes them feel, you’re helping them decide.
“Without conflict, you have no action; without action, you have no character; without character, you have no story”
Part Three
Mapping Emotion: 8 Levers to Pull
Emotions aren’t just attention-grabbers—they are strong predictors of marketing effectiveness. According to System1 Group’s research on over 70,000 ads, emotional response, not just awareness or recall, correlates directly with long-term brand growth and short-term sales spikes.
Daniel Kahneman’s research into System 1 and System 2 thinking explains why emotion matters so much. System 1 is fast, automatic, and emotional, while System 2 is slow, deliberate, and logical. The kicker? Around 95% of our decisions are made by System 1.
When you tell product stories aimed only at logic, you’re speaking to just 5% of your customer’s decision-making power. Emotion isn’t a "nice touch" or embellishment—it’s the main event.
The key insight? If you’re not triggering strong emotions, your message is likely being ignored.
Here are eight core emotional responses that predict success:
Emotion | Impact on Storytelling |
|---|---|
Happiness | Drives brand affinity and memorability. |
Pride | Builds trust and reinforces brand authority. |
Warmth | Fosters loyalty and emotional closeness. |
Fear | Captures attention but must be carefully managed. |
Sadness | Evokes empathy and deep emotional engagement. |
Surprise | Breaks cognitive patterns and wins attention. |
Disgust | Risky—can repel unless masterfully executed. |
Anger | Fuels advocacy when aligned with a mission. |
Across the data, one theme is clear: Positive emotions like happiness, pride, and warmth are the most reliable triggers for lasting impact. Ads that successfully trigger happiness have been shown to drive future sales at a rate 2.5x higher than those that don't.
For product marketers, the roadmap is simple. Focus on uplifting emotions that make customers feel good about themselves and their choices. Use surprise strategically to capture initial attention. Be cautious with negative emotions, and only use them when they authentically align with your brand purpose.
"Someone gets into trouble, then gets out of it, people love that story, they never get tired of it.
Part Three
Case Study:CommunicatingConflictThe Role of Conflict: Earning the Emotional PayoffKurt Vonnegut, in his analysis of story shapes, concluded that every great story must show a rise and fall of fortune. Audiences are not moved by a straight line to happiness; they’re moved by journeys that expose struggle, failure, and redemption. Conflict is the essential ingredient that makes resolution feel earned. Product storytelling too often skips this part, focusing only on selling the dream or the positive outcome. But the best stories mirror real life—they make the audience earn the payoff by showing the pain points and obstacles along the way. Without conflict, there’s no contrast. And without contrast, there’s no emotional investment. The lesson? Conflict not only captures attention, it keeps it. |  BK using disgust as a way to make a contrast to inorganic competitors.  Dettol Making you want to wash you hands in one second. |
Practical Steps
How to Inject Emotion into Your Product Story
Start with the Customer’s Emotion
Understand what your customers feel now and what they aspire to feel.
Create a Tension
Clearly show the gap between where they are and where they could be.
Paint the Emotional Payoff
Make the benefits vivid and emotionally resonant.
Simplify the Journey
Strip away jargon and complexity. Speak like a human, not a spec sheet.
Be Real
Authenticity wins. Manufactured or exaggerated emotions lose trust.
Why Product Marketers Must Master Contrast
“If you’re not making them feel, you’re making them forget”
Features might fill spec sheets, but emotion fills shopping carts. If you’re not making your audience feel something, you’re making it easier for them to forget you.
Master emotional storytelling, and you’re not just marketing a product. You’re offering a feeling. You’re offering a better version fo the future.
