They say ...

People buy using their emotions.
People buy benefits, not features.

If we accept these two guidelines of sales and marketing, it would stand to reason that benefits are, or at least include, emotions. I don't buy the wrench for the benefit of being able to fix my plumbing, still less for the chrome plate feature. Rather, I buy the wrench to fix my plumbing--

to make me feel as if I have accomplished something,
to stop myself from feeling guilty,
to stop my fear of water damage,
to persuade my wife that I am worthwhile,
to give myself a sense of control over my environment--
you get the picture.

OK, so the chrome plate feature may make me feel proud to own the thing. So am I buying a wrench or the feelings the tool gives me?

And being essentially self-centered ourselves on the sales end, it takes work and experience, not to mention creativity, for us to know why our potential customers want to buy our product or service ... or how to find the customer that fits the profile we think would make it likely we have a buyer. It takes work to see I am not selling a wrench, but the emotional benefits the wrench provides. I am not selling what I want, but what the customer wants. If I understand what I am selling (emotions), I will be able to increase sales and customer satisfaction more than if all I see is a wrench.

So online where I have no face-to-face contact with potential customers, how do I figure out why people might buy what I have to offer? That's a question too large to address here save in brief. Pay-per-click using relevant keywords (see Google's keyword tool in Adwords), garnering feedback in social networking sites and through email responses, using the imagination, re-writing text, and two other points.

One, make it personal with online images, pictures, and video. This increases the emotional side of trust and visually stirs the viewer to positive motivating feelings (if the viewer is a potential customer). Two, try to hit as many motivating emotions as you can. The more motivating emotions stirred, the more likely that the person will buy.