The Excuse to Buy

My wife put the picture frames back and said, "See, I can say no to things."

We were at a garage sale. We didn't need anything. She saw some white picture frames she liked. I asked, "Why do we need those? Our walls are full." She didn't have an answer, and we both knew they'd end up in a closet. She paused, put them back, and said it.

That moment taught me something I've used in marketing ever since. People buy on emotion. But emotion alone often isn't enough to part with the cash. They need what I call the Excuse to Buy... a logical reason to justify giving in to something they already want.

Furniture stores understand this. Why are they always "going out of business"? Because "these deals will never be this good again" is the excuse, not the reason you want the couch.

Volvo did it backwards, and it worked: decades building the rational excuse, safety, first, only recently leaning into the emotional appeal of styling.

Even M&Ms use this. The emotion is simple: you want chocolate. The excuse is "they don't melt in your hand." Mine was lamer: they're small, so I won't eat the whole bag. (It didn't stop me.)

If you're marketing something, in my experience the question isn't just what emotion you're selling. It's what excuse you're handing your customer so they can say yes to themselves.

My wife never got one for the picture frames. What's yours?