Emotions in B2B Buying: What Research Shows About How Industrial Buyers Decide

Emotions play a real part in B2B buying. Research on organizational buyers finds emotions present at every stage of the purchase process, from recognizing a problem to choosing and staying with a supplier. Industrial buyers still need specifications, proof and a sound business case. But the people making those decisions also feel confidence, doubt, pride and the fear of being blamed, and those feelings shape what they do next. Studies of B2B advertising and social media show that emotional messages can raise trust and advocacy even among senior, fact-driven buyers, as long as the facts are there too.

Are B2B buying decisions rational or emotional?

Both. The classic models of industrial buying treated it as an organizational decision process. Webster and Wind (1972) proposed one of the first general models of organizational buying behavior as a decision-making process, and Sheth (1973) built a descriptive model of how industrial buying decisions are made. Those models were built to explain groups, rules and procedures, and much of what followed focused on the rational side.

Later research asked what happens inside the people in that process. Kemp, Borders, Anaza and Johnston (2018) interviewed marketing decision-makers at one of the world's most valuable brands. They found that emotions are prevalent at all stages of organizational decision-making and that specific emotions push buyers toward particular actions. Their conclusion was practical: buyers must see the functional value of a product, and suppliers should also think about how their brand connects with buyers on a personal level.

The more useful question is which feelings sit behind the rational case, and whether your marketing addresses them.

Where emotions show up in the buying process

An industrial purchase involves several people over weeks or months. Each has a job to do and a reputation at stake. That is where emotion enters.

• Recognizing the problem. Frustration with downtime, worry about a compliance audit or pressure from a manager often starts the search. The trigger is frequently a feeling before it becomes a requirement.
• Searching and shortlisting. A buyer who has been let down by a supplier before carries that memory into the next search. A supplier that feels unfamiliar or hard to read feels risky.
• Evaluating. Pandey and Mookerjee (2018) interviewed buyers and sellers involved in vendor selection. They found five dimensions of customer experience in B2B (sensory, emotional, relational, behavioural and intellectual) and concluded that buyers judge experiential value from functional, symbolic, emotional and cost value, which in turn affects purchase intentions.
• Deciding. The person who signs carries the risk of a bad choice. Confidence in the supplier matters as much as the score on the evaluation sheet.
• Using and renewing. After the sale, the relationship either builds trust or wears it down. The feelings formed here decide the next purchase and what the buyer tells colleagues.

For a fuller view of the stages and the people involved, see how industrial buyers actually buy and the buying center.

The emotions in buyer–seller relationships

Bagozzi (2006) reviewed research on salesperson–customer interactions and argued that purely rational, economic explanations miss how both sides regulate their behavior. He singled out four positive emotions as essential to these relationships: pride, attachment, empathy and emotional wisdom. He also highlighted six negative ones: guilt, shame, embarrassment, envy, jealousy and social anxiety.

That list will be familiar to anyone who has sold capital equipment. The plant manager who is proud of a line she specified. The engineer embarrassed by a failed trial. The purchasing lead anxious about defending a higher price to finance.

The people on the selling side matter here. In a study of 224 B2B salespeople and their customers, salesperson emotional intelligence and empathy influenced how much customers took part in creating value, their citizenship behavior and their commitment to the salesperson (Delpechitre, Beeler-Connelly & Chaker, 2018). The ability to perceive, understand and regulate emotions affected these behaviors in different ways.

My own doctoral research points the same way. In a meta-analysis of 71 brand equity studies, covering 92 samples and almost 30,000 respondents, brand attachment, the cognitive and emotional bond between a customer and a brand, had a strong positive association with customer-based brand equity (ρ = 0.56; ρ is a correlation on a scale from −1 to 1). Trust (ρ = 0.69) and brand experience (ρ = 0.68) had some of the strongest associations of all (Farrokhi, 2020). Nearly all of those studies came from consumer markets, so read the figures as a guide for B2B rather than a measurement of it. The direction is consistent, though: the feelings customers build through repeated contact with a company show up in how much they value its brand. Our guide to B2B brand equity explains the measure in more detail.

Do emotional messages work on industrial buyers?

The evidence says yes, and the effect does not disappear among senior, fact-focused decision makers.

Emotional advertising and the C-suite

Kemp, Briggs and Anaza (2020) combined interviews with content developers at a Fortune 100 technology company and a survey of that company's buyer panel. Advertising built on emotion-based themes helped foster brand engagement and advocacy. The more surprising finding concerned facts. Among C-level executives, a stronger reliance on facts increased the appeal of emotional advertising rather than reducing it. The authors suggest emotional themes are especially effective when aimed at buyers higher in the organization.

Stories about buyer–seller experiences

A related study looked at stories in B2B advertising. In a Fortune 100 company's buyer panel, narrative advertising about buyer–seller experiences was positively related to trust in the supplier, the ability to form personal connections with the supplier and the tendency to advocate for it. These effects were stronger for C-suite decision makers than for others, and follow-up interviews with C-level executives supported the result (Anaza, Kemp, Briggs & Borders, 2020).

This is a strong argument for customer stories. A well-told case study carries the facts and the feeling of a project that went well.

What B2B brands post, and what gets traction

Social media research adds detail. Swani, Brown and Milne (2014) analysed more than 7,000 tweets from Fortune 500 companies and found that B2B marketers tended to use more emotional than functional appeals. A later study of Facebook posts from Fortune 500 brands found that including corporate brand names, functional and emotional appeals, and information search cues increased the popularity of B2B posts compared with B2C posts (Swani et al., 2017).

Language matters too. Deng, Wang, Rod and Ji (2021) analysed 229,272 tweets from 156 B2B brands in 10 industries. They looked at six linguistic features, including emotional cues, and found that features which make a post easier to process tended to raise engagement, while features that made processing harder tended to lower it.

Negative emotions have business consequences

Emotion also works against suppliers. Sameeni, Ahmad and Qadeer (2024) studied brand hate among business buyers. Hate was directly linked to complaining, boycotting the brand and retaliating against it, and complaining helped carry hate into boycott and retaliation. The effects were stronger for customers with longer relationships. A long-standing customer who feels betrayed can do more damage than a new one.

For an industrial company, this usually starts with something ordinary: a missed delivery that nobody explained, a warranty claim handled coldly, a sales rep who disappeared after the purchase order. The fix lies in how your people respond when something goes wrong.

Emotional buying motives in B2B

"Emotional buying motives" is a term from sales training for the feelings behind a purchase. In industrial markets, a practical list looks like this. It is a working framework, not a research finding, but each motive maps to the emotions described above.

• Security: avoiding downtime, safety incidents and failed audits.
• Confidence: believing the supplier will do what it says, and being able to defend the choice internally.
• Pride: wanting a solution that reflects well on the buyer's judgement and their plant.
• Relief: getting rid of a recurring problem or an unreliable incumbent.
• Recognition: being seen by management as the person who solved it.
• Belonging: buying what respected peers in the industry use.

How to market to emotions without losing credibility

Engineers and procurement teams react badly to hype. The research supports emotion that sits on top of proof.

1. Name the feeling behind the requirement. In buyer interviews, ask what the buyer was worried about, not only what they needed. Write those worries down in the buyer's words.
2. Lead with facts, then add the human stakes. Kemp et al. (2020) found that reliance on facts made emotional advertising more appealing to executives. Give the numbers first, then show what they meant for the people involved.
3. Tell real customer stories. Narrative advertising about buyer–seller experiences was linked to trust and advocacy (Anaza et al., 2020). Use named customers, specific problems and the moment the result became clear.
4. Reduce the buyer's personal risk. References, guarantees, clear implementation plans and documents the buyer can forward to their boss all lower anxiety. A strong B2B brand does the same job at the start of the search. In my meta-analysis, stronger brand equity went with lower perceived risk (ρ = −0.30; Farrokhi, 2020).
5. Train your people in emotional intelligence. Salesperson empathy and emotional intelligence were linked to customer commitment and participation (Delpechitre et al., 2018). Hutchins and Rodriguez (2018) argue that a firm's collective emotional intelligence, shown through its content, is a route to brand equity.
6. Make posts easy to process. Linguistic features that make a post easier to process tended to help engagement (Deng et al., 2021). Keep the language plain and the main point obvious. Our guide to LinkedIn for industrial companies covers this in more detail.
7. Treat complaints as early warnings. Complaining is the first behavior linked to brand hate in business buyers (Sameeni et al., 2024). Give every complaint an owner, a timeline and a human voice.

Frequently asked questions

Do emotions matter in B2B buying?

Yes. Research on organizational buying finds emotions present at every stage of the decision process, and they push buyers toward particular actions (Kemp et al., 2018).

Do emotions affect brand equity?

Yes. In a meta-analysis of 71 studies, brand attachment, trust and brand experience were all strongly associated with customer-based brand equity (Farrokhi, 2020). Most of that evidence comes from consumer markets.

Is B2B buying more rational than consumer buying?

B2B purchases involve more formal steps, more people and more documentation. That does not remove emotion. It changes which emotions dominate, with risk, confidence and personal accountability carrying more weight.

What are emotional buying motives?

The feelings behind a purchase, such as security, confidence, pride, relief and recognition. In B2B they sit alongside the functional and financial reasons for buying.

Should B2B companies use emotional advertising?

Research on a Fortune 100 company's buyers found that emotion-based advertising fostered engagement and advocacy, and was especially effective with senior executives who rely on facts (Kemp et al., 2020). The emotion should be grounded in real evidence.

How do you build an emotional connection with industrial buyers?

Through customer stories, responsive and empathetic salespeople, clear proof that reduces personal risk, and consistent handling of problems. Content from your engineers, such as thought leadership, builds connection through expertise.

The bottom line

Ask your last three customers what they were worried about before they chose you, then check whether your website and proposals answer that worry directly. That gap between the stated requirement and the real fear is usually where deals are won or lost. AXXEN's Brand Systems work builds positioning and messaging that speak to both. For where this fits in the wider plan, see the B2B marketing strategy playbook.

About the author

Mo Farrokhi, PhD, is the founder of AXXEN in Calgary, Alberta. His path runs from electrical engineering through an MBA and a PhD in marketing to industry roles, including VP Marketing & Product at a TSX-listed clean-tech company. AXXEN builds marketing systems for technology, manufacturing and industrial companies that have outgrown ad-hoc marketing.

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