You know your consumer journey. You’ve mapped out the category and brand entry points. You can track every interaction your customers have with your brand. You have data—lots of it. Quantitative breakdowns, qualitative insights, ethnographic videos. You can see, in real time, how people use your product.
This is invaluable. Today, marketers, product developers, and insight teams have more information than ever before about how consumers physically interact with their products.
But does that mean you truly understand the consumer journey?
You might see where product performance can be improved. You might identify where usage instructions are unclear. But can you see how to improve the consumer experience—the emotional impact your brand has?
And more to the point: how well do you understand your consumer’s emotional journey—at every stage of their experience with your brand?
When I speak with brand owners about the emotional response their products evoke, they often describe a singular static, endpoint feeling: relaxing, comforting, stimulating, reassuring. These are helpful but they describe how a consumer feels after interacting with the product—not the emotional ups and downs they go through along the way.
In reality, consumer emotions are multiple and dynamic, not singular and static. They’re not tied to a single moment but evolve throughout the entire experience—from initial contact through to post-consumption. That evolving experience—the emotional journey—is where your true brand differentiation lives.
Most brands within a category aim to elicit similar outcomes. Think about it: all brands in a category may ultimately aim to relax, energize, or satisfy the consumer. That emotional destination is what brought the consumer into the category in the first place.
But what sets your brand apart is how it gets them there.
The unique combination and sequencing of features in your product—or touchpoints in your service—create a distinctive emotional experience. That journey is why consumers prefer your brand over others, even if they can’t clearly articulate why.
When consumers say they “like your brand more,” what they often mean is that they prefer the way it makes them feel. And when asked to explain that preference, they’ll likely refer to product features—not because that’s what truly drives preference, but because we’re not good at expressing emotional nuance, especially in a survey or interview.
Features matter, of course—but they matter because of the feelings they evoke.
That’s why your understanding of the consumer journey must go beyond what is happening physically and focus equally—if not more—on what’s happening emotionally. The most powerful brand experiences aren’t just about functional delivery; they’re about emotional resonance.
When you map the emotional journey—how each feature or moment contributes to a broader emotional arc—you gain powerful insight:
· You’ll understand why certain features matter more than others.
· You’ll recognize that it’s not just the presence of features, but their order and timing that shape the emotional impact.
· And you’ll discover that small, subtle tweaks—in product design, delivery, or communication—can dramatically enhance the emotional experience.
Understanding the emotional journey doesn’t just improve product development or brand strategy. It deepens your empathy with your consumer. It helps you see your brand from the inside out—through the lens of lived experience.
And that’s how you create not just a better product, but a more meaningful brand.
To find out more, you can buy my new book, The Shape of Taste here:
Chris Lukehurst is a Consumer Psychologist and a Director at The Marketing Clinic:
Understanding the connections between the consumer experience and emotional responses.
