Have you ever wondered why we human beings have a wide range of behavioral patterns? This is because most of the time, our moods and emotions are controlled by the five basic senses that help us to see, hear, touch, feel, and smell the things around us.
All the five senses have the ability to develop an emotional connection within people. Realizing this innate ability, many brands across various industries have experimented on utilizing these senses to market their products and services.
What Is Sensory Marketing
Sensory marketing is a marketing strategy in which the five basic human senses are utilized to promote a product or service. Content and other aspects that trigger sensory emotions and actions are implemented so that the customer will have an emotional connection with the product.
Studies have shown that the sensory appeal that a product or service delivers can influence how an individual perceives it. This appeal may be the visual aspect of the product, its smoothness, its lovely sound, or the soothing fragrance that it delivers. Some people are attracted to visuals or audio, others are attracted to smell, feel, and the physical presence in a business atmosphere.
Sensory marketing is an effective technique to enhance the customer experience in a defined space. Apart from giving importance to a single sense, it is always best to incorporate all these sensory elements in your business.
We will have a look at the five ways to develop an emotional appeal with the help of the senses. We will further discuss in detail scent marketing and its uniqueness.
Enhance The Visual Appeal
Sight is one of the powerful and popular elements of sensory marketing. Here, the visual appeal of a product or a business atmosphere triggers an emotional impact on the customer. This includes decorations and other visual characteristics that are imparted to it. The logo and brand colors are also significant factors that can attract the customer towards the brand.
Including Sounds
Sounds, especially music, have great significance in influencing our moods. When a piece of soothing music is played inside a store, the customers will be provided with a calm and comfortable atmosphere where they can continue shopping with complete engagement. Studies stay that 75 percent of the customers stay longer in a store if they like the musical ambiance inside. This also makes the customers feel that they are enjoying a premium-level shopping experience.
The Magic Of Touch
Among the different sensory marketing techniques, touch is the most physical one. Analyzing the texture or design of an object by touching it will improve the perception of the customer. For cosmetics and other handy products, a smooth and luxurious packaging can also do the trick of emotional appeal through touch. Businesses often use cards and other handy decorations to provide a positive appeal to the customer.
Feelings Make Decisions
The feel that a brand or business delivers is also an aspect of its marketing success. For businesses that provide security services or equipment, it is important that the customer should have a feeling of safety and security with the services. This is the most basic factor that determines the customer’s decision
The Power of Scents
Scent marketing is one of the most powerful and efficient marketing techniques, as it functions for a full time. While the other four sensory techniques need to drive attention, scents are easily and quickly recognizable.
Studies suggest that almost 70 percent of our emotions and thoughts in a day are controlled by our sense to smell. Pleasant scents have been proven to improve our moods by 40 percent.
Scent marketing is considered a relatively new technique. But it has been in existence ever since experts realized the possibilities of incorporating scents with businesses. Scents have the ability to improve comfort and positivity in an atmosphere, through which businesses can improve customer engagement.
When stores are scented with ambient fragrances, customers will have the luxury to have a unique shopping experience where the ambient scents improve their moods and trigger new emotions. This will make them shop for longer hours, further increasing the sales. In restaurants, scents nullify the foul odors from the restroom and raw food materials. This will create room for the customer without disturbing the delicious fragrance of the dishes.
Scents can also make and trigger memories very easily. When your store is scented attractively, the customers who have experienced it will remember you wherever they experience similar scents in other places. The unique shopping experience provided through scenting will urge them to return to your store whenever they something relevant.
Apart from the marketing qualities, there is a psychological aspect of scenting. Most customers consider pleasantly scented places as clean places. They are very much concerned about the cleanliness of the atmosphere they shop from. Thus, in most cases, businesses use ambient scenting to deliver a clean and engaging atmosphere within.
Scent marketing is implemented with the help of a number of scented products and equipment. Scented candles have been the most traditional forms of marketing, but they had their own limitations that paved way for more innovations. This resulted in the use of scent diffusers.
Scent diffusers are dedicated machines that disperse scented essential oils into the atmosphere in the form of vapor. Diffusers are considered to be the most convenient mode of scent marketing, which are available in various sizes and models according to different interiors.
Essential oils specially scented components extracted from nature. There are a wide variety of essential oils available in the market, and each of them has its own unique qualities. This includes improving mood, energy, positivity, and memory powers. Scent marketing is best effective when brands choose the perfect essential oils for scenting.
As we have seen, sensory marketing has great significance in enhancing the shopping experience. Apart from other techniques, make sure that you use appropriate sensory techniques to facilitate the growth of your business.