Discounts are powerful. There's no denying that. In a price-sensitive market like Vietnam, a well-timed promotion can bring in a wave of customers. It can drive short-term sales, clear stock, and even help new brands land in baskets. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: price doesn’t build preference. It buys attention, not loyalty. And in an increasingly crowded and choice-heavy market, attention is not enough.
In our work speaking with Vietnamese consumers—from Gen Z in urban cafes to mothers shopping in wet markets, from students ordering snacks online to office workers browsing supermarket aisles—one thing has become clear: what keeps a product in their lives isn’t logic or price. It’s emotion.
Let’s unpack this.
Promotions are like a flash of light. They get noticed. A 20% discount or a buy-1-get-1 deal still works wonders at the point of sale. But the effect is almost always temporary. Consumers make the purchase, try the product, and unless something more meaningful happens, they move on. When we ask about it later in interviews or post-use surveys, we often hear:
“It was cheap, so I gave it a try.”
“I don’t remember much about it.”
“I wouldn’t buy it again unless it’s on promotion.”
This is the death zone of trial: a product that gets tried, but not remembered. And in a market where so many brands are pushing similar offers, discounts lose their edge quickly. Worse, they train the consumer to wait for the next offer rather than form a connection with the brand.
Now contrast that with emotional resonance. In our in-depth research across categories like skincare, ready-to-drink beverages, household cleaners, and packaged foods, we’ve seen a consistent pattern: people stay loyal to the products that make them feel something.
It doesn’t need to be dramatic. It could be a drink that reminds them of childhood. A shampoo that makes them feel more confident during a job interview. A snack that became part of their bonding ritual with friends.
When brands successfully build emotional relevance—through their story, packaging, communication, or experience—they earn share of heart. That’s what builds brand equity. It’s what makes someone choose you again without needing a promotion.
In Vietnam, especially with younger demographics like Gen Z and early millennials, emotional drivers like belonging, identity, joy, nostalgia, and safety have become even more critical. This generation may seem pragmatic on the surface, but their choices are deeply influenced by mood, tone, and energy. They don’t always articulate it as “emotion” in research—but when we dig deeper, it’s clear that how a brand makes them feel is the difference between trial and repurchase.
You don’t have to be a luxury product to create an emotional connection. Even mass-market FMCG brands have done it successfully.
Consider a local snack brand that tied its packaging designs to moments of student life—test days, school festivals, group study nights. Sales among high school and university students jumped, even without a single discount campaign. Why? Because the product felt like a companion, not just a commodity.
This kind of emotional work takes effort. It requires real listening, cultural understanding, and often qualitative research that goes beyond “satisfaction” or “intention to purchase.” But it pays off. Because emotional branding doesn’t expire at the end of a campaign cycle—it compounds.
When asked why they continue buying a product—not just why they tried it—respondents often say things like:
“It makes me feel relaxed.”
“It reminds me of my hometown.”
“It’s something I always keep in the house.”
“I trust it—I don’t know why, but I do.”
“It cheers me up after a long day.”
These aren’t rational answers. They’re emotional associations. And they are sticky. They shape preference more deeply than any functional claim or promotion can.
One Gen Z respondent in Ho Chi Minh City once told us about a bottled tea she drinks regularly. When we asked why, she didn’t mention price or health benefits. She said:
“I don’t even look at other brands anymore. This one feels like me.”
That’s brand loyalty in 2025.
If you want to design marketing that moves hearts, you need research that captures emotional truth—not just statistical output.
Traditional surveys often struggle here. Likert scales and close-ended answers tend to flatten emotion into abstract scores. What we’ve found works better includes:
Storytelling prompts, letting respondents explain their experiences in narrative form.
Mood boards and photo associations, helping them articulate what words cannot.
Video diaries, capturing in-the-moment responses.
Qual-quant hybrids, pairing scale-based results with deeper probes to understand the why.
Fieldwork that explores the emotional context of use—when, where, and why people choose something—yields insights that are actionable and human.
And in the end, it’s the emotional truth that drives behavior, not just awareness or price sensitivity.
We often talk about KPIs like NPS, brand recall, or purchase frequency. But here’s another question worth asking:
“What feeling do we leave behind after the purchase?”
Because that is what people carry into their next decision.
Discounts may win the basket.
But emotion wins the relationship.
And in Vietnam’s crowded marketplace, where every category has 10 competitors and every product is one tap away from being replaced, emotion is not soft. It’s the edge.
