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You Might Be Overlooking the #1 Decision-Making Cue That Drives Conversions
Logical features explain. Emotional resonance converts. Here’s the framework.
Kody Nordquist
August 26, 2025
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Testing your creatives should not feel like an engineering process.
Why?
Because people do not shop with spreadsheets open, they buy with emotion, and then justify it with logic.
The problem is that most creative testing gets stuck on features and specs.
Price points, product benefits, and durability claims. All of that matters, but it only reinforces the decision after emotion has already done the heavy lifting.
If you want higher conversions, you need to learn how to test for the real triggers.
The stories, identities, and feelings that make someone click “buy” before they even finish reading the bullet points.
In this email, we’ll cover:
Why feature-based testing often fails
How to compare emotional vs rational messaging
The Emotion-Logic Balance Method that drives real conversions
By the end, you’ll know how to structure ads that connect emotionally, support logically, and scale sustainably:
Turning Search into Scale: How We Unlocked Growth Through Non-Brand Search & Smart Prospecting on Google
Only Curls is a UK-based haircare brand designed for people with curly, wavy, and textured hair. With clean, sulfate-free formulas and curl-enhancing ingredients, the brand promotes natural curl confidence with an inclusive, cruelty-free ethos.
The brand had strong affinity, but there was one big problem: Google Ads was doing little to attract new customers. More than 80% of spend went to branded campaigns, which inflated ROAS but hid the channel’s true growth potential. Non-brand share of voice was almost non-existent, leaving discovery and acquisition opportunities untapped.
That’s where Webtopia stepped in.
Approach: Flip the funnel and maximize discovery.
Rebalanced spend - Branded reduced from 80% to 17%, reallocating 83% to non-brand acquisition.
Captured intent - Expanded non-brand coverage across curly-hair routines and product discovery searches, while optimizing Shopping feeds with better titles, images, and A/B tests.
Fueled discovery - Brought YouTube and Performance Max into play, running curly-hair tutorial Shorts and interest-led video ads to turn awareness into conversions.
The results
✔️ +74% total revenue growth from Google Ads
✔️ 5x increase in non-brand revenue
✔️ +108% non-brand conversions
✔️ YouTube delivered 2.3x ROAS
✔️ Overall ROAS up +7.4% despite cutting branded spend
Why this matters
By flipping the funnel, Only Curls unlocked whole new audiences, reframed its growth strategy, and turned Google Ads into a genuine engine for acquisition - not just efficiency.
And if you’re looking to sharpen your own strategy, Webtopia’s experts pulled together free resources packed with playbooks, guides and expert tools to help your brand thrive.
Features and specs make sense on a spreadsheet, but they rarely move people to act.
Think about Nike. People don’t buy shoes because of foam density or mesh breathability. They buy because the ad makes them feel like an athlete, like they belong to something bigger.
When you only test features, you:
Flatten the emotional punch of your ads
Attract comparison shoppers instead of buyers
Miss the urgency and identity triggers that spark action
Features explain. Emotion converts.
How to Compare Emotional and Rational Messaging
Instead of guessing, you can isolate which approach drives your audience.
Here is the process:
Pick one emotional angle → status, belonging, identity, fear, or desire
Pick one logical angle → price, convenience, durability, proof, or speed
Create two parallel creatives: one emotional, one rational
Run A/B tests across cold audiences, measure CTR, CPC, and conversion rate
Track secondary actions like time on site, add-to-cart, and repeat visits
This gives you hard data on which levers create momentum with your buyers.
The Emotion-Logic Balance Method
Once you know what works, combine them in the right sequence.
The framework:
Lead with emotion → capture attention and build desire
Follow with logic → give proof, specs, and guarantees to lower risk
Close with identity → remind buyers what choosing your brand says about them
This creates a clear path: feel, trust, act.
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Schedule a free consultation to learn about Juo’s capabilities and discuss your business requirements.
Final Thoughts
Testing should reveal more than which headline gets the highest CTR. It should uncover the emotional drivers that spark action.
Use features to validate, but lead with emotion if you want people to buy.
The balance is where scale happens.
Want to learn more? Connect with me on social 👇
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Thank you for reading! I appreciate you.
Until Next Time ✌️
- Kody