It's a costly mistake if you're not tapping into emotions in your writing and marketing

(This is a bit long. Don’t read when you’re in a rush. Come back later when you’re at home sitting comfortably)

In my previous post, I told you that emotions are at the heart of every impactful piece of writing. And I promised to tell you why.

So, here’s why.

Philosophers like Plato and Kant believed that the best decisions come from pure logic, with no emotions involved.

But neuroscientist Antonio Damasio discovered that’s not how our brains work.

For example, Damasio had a patient named Elliot, who had a brain tumor in his Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (vmPFC). Basically somewhere on the front part of the brain.

Unfortunately, even after successful surgery to remove the tumor, his vmPFC was still considered damaged.

However, he didn’t become a retard. He tested well in an IQ test. His long-term memory, short-term memory, language skills, perception, and handiness with math were all still present.

But one weird thing is, he couldn't make sound decisions or finish what he started.

Organizing files that would normally take minutes took him hours. Any projects he did on the job were either left incomplete or contained many errors. He got scammed in a moneymaking scheme by obvious “shady people”. He got divorced, then married again to someone his family strongly disapproved of, and divorced again.

That led to him losing his job, going bankrupt, and going through multiple divorces. Poor guy.

This puzzled Damasio. But then, his lightbulb went off.

Damasio realized that when Elliot talked about his life’s tragedies, he was always controlled. Nowhere was there a sense of his own suffering, even though he was the main character. Damasio suffered more from hearing Elliot’s story than Elliot did.

So, Damasio thought, “Wtf is wrong with this guy? Doesn’t he feel any emotions?”

So, Damasio tried showing Elliot some bizarre and disturbing images to test his assumption. Shockingly, it was true. Elliot felt nothing.

That’s when Damasio realized Elliot’s issue was because Elliot could not feel any emotions anymore.

The tumor turned Elliot emotionless. That’s why his work and decision-making were bad. He couldn’t feel anything about his choices.

This led to Damasio’s big idea that “somatic markers” or gut feelings help us make decisions.

Simply, these gut feelings help us feel right or wrong. Without that emotional input, we’re stuck with too many options and no clear way to judge them. That means every option will seem equally fine and nothing stands out as the right choice.

To illustrate this point, let me bring you to the IOWA Gambling Task.

The IOWA Gambling Task is a psychological experiment to study decision-making and how emotions play a role in it.

There are two types of participants: those with normal brains and those with damaged vmPFC.

In the test, participants have to draw cards from four decks for many rounds. There are two “bad” decks with big losses and two “good” decks with steady gains. All participants don’t know which is which.

The results are pretty telling.

The normal participants, after a while, start to avoid the “bad” decks and favor the “good” decks long before they’re consciously aware the “bad” decks are bad.

In contrast, the participants with damaged vmPFC don’t follow this pattern. They continue to persevere with the “bad” decks, even after they know they’re losing a lot of gains multiple times.

But they still have the cognitive ability to assess the situation and logically explain what’s going on. They just don’t have that emotional response to steer them away from bad choices.

This happens because their vmPFC can’t integrate emotional cues into their decision-making.

The absence of emotions makes everything feel the same. That’s why they keep making bad decisions, unaware that they’re digging themselves into a deeper hole.

The Iowa Gambling Task is an example of what Damasio was talking about. It shows that logic doesn’t cut it. You need emotions to help you make sound choices.

Elliot and the IOWA Gambling Task experiment proves several things:

• When emotion is impaired, so is decision-making.

• Healthy humans don’t make decisions based on logic alone.

• And the vmPFC is crucial to the decision-making (or buying) process

That means, if you only present logic to persuade or sell something in your writing, you’re going against how the brain naturally makes choices. You’re against science. That’s a costly mistake.

As we’ve talked about, the brain’s decision-making isn’t ruled by cold, hard facts—it’s driven by emotion.

If you ignore this and focus only on logic, your message might miss the mark on a deeper, more impactful level.

Your readers might get what you’re saying, but they’re less likely to feel genuinely convinced or motivated to take action—like making a purchase.

Over time, this can mean stagnant or even declining sales as you struggle to persuade your readers effectively.

Also, the market is tough. Relying too much on logic can make you blend in rather than stand out.

If you’re making similar rational appeals like everyone else, you’re not creating a unique, memorable bond with your readers. That makes it hard for customers to choose you as their savior, and they might end up going with someone else.

So, here’s what to do instead: follow the science of how people actually make decisions.

You can do this by tapping into the vmPFC using just 4 secret, science-backed emotions.

You only need to know these 4 emotions to be able to write and persuade better. It’s that simple because these 4 are extremely powerful.

These 4 emotions are deeply hardwired in us—the ones we’ve carried for thousands of years since the caveman era.

That means, your writing is guaranteed to resonate on a deeper level, connecting with your customers’ emotional core and decision-making processes.

In other words, it’s guaranteed to hit the vmPFC.

Also, these 4 emotions are what the legendary copywriters used over and over again to speak directly to the vmPFC.

Think David Ogilvy’s Rolls Royce ads, Agora Financial’s sales letters, and Gary Halbert’s ads. You’ll see those 4 emotions coming up repeatedly in their work.

By using these 4 emotions, you’ll come across as more authentic, empathetic, and in tune with what your customers really care about. Because you don’t seem to just trying to “sell” them something.

This makes your arguments stronger and more memorable, which in turn boosts your chances of the outcomes you want.

By the way, do not think these 4 emotions aren’t relevant to you. They can be used in almost any niche and any writing medium. Cold email, blog post, website copy, anything where selling or persuading is needed.

If you want to be among the select few copywriters and marketers in the world who truly get how to write copy that sells, get my new groundbreaking ebook: You Can Sell Just About Anything Using 4 Secret, Science-Backed Emotions.

If you’re comfortable being where you are right now, no worries, I appreciate you reading till the end.

The choice is always yours.

But read this free sample first. It might change your mind. A discount code is also available inside.