Emotional X-rays: Leverage “The Big Five”

Reach your target audience by understanding how emotion plays a critical part in purchasing behavior. 

In general, traditional demographics and psychographics give important statistical data like age, gender, income, education, ethnicity, etc., but ignore basic human personality characteristics that crossover the statistical data. These personality traits are not categorized by numbers and stats, but rather by a person's emotional psyche, which in turn helps direct brand plans on how to best reach an audience and guide them to a particular desired response.

In psychology, “The Big Five” are five traits or broad dimensions of personality that are used to describe human personality. They are openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (OCEAN).

1. The Open Audience
   Openness is a person’s appreciation for things like emotion, unusual ideas, and experiences. These people tend to be more creative, original, and hold uncommon beliefs. On the contrary, people who are defined as “closed” tend to prefer routine and don’t like change.


2. The Conscientious Audience
   This audience is made up of high achievers and disciplined people. It has a high level of conscientiousness. These people are self-starters, and are not prone to spontaneous acts. If you have a conscientiousness audience, this group is usually not susceptible to impulsive buying.


3. The Extroverted Audience
   This audience is social and full of energy. These people are enthusiastic and have a higher than normal need to interact with the outside world. Brands with identities centered around energy need to capture these individuals. They are your most likely bet for creating brand loyalists.


4. The Agreeable Audience
   These consumers do not like to make waves. They tend to encourage the preservation of social harmony. At their core, agreeable consumers want to get along with everyone. They are not necessarily pushovers but can be persuaded to shift beliefs for the cause of social peace. On the flip side, consumers who are disagreeable put their interests above social harmony.


5. The Neurotic Audience
   These consumers are emotionally unstable and tend to expect the worst in a situation. If you have a neurotic audience, they probably don’t trust your brand. They harbor feelings of anger, depression, and high levels of anxiety. These consumers are also more mentally stressed out where negative emotions tend to linger for a longer period of time. On the other end of the spectrum, non-neurotic consumers are calmer and less paranoid about an imminent threat.

Improve your brand strategy by gaining a better view and then understanding the mind of your target audience.