Today, sensory marketing plays a particularly important role in the world of consumption as it fits into a context in which consumers are no longer looking for products with which to satisfy certain needs, but rather for emotions and experiences.
Before we start talking about sensory marketing, however, it is necessary to make a fundamental distinction between sensation and perception: the former concerns the activation of the sense organs through external stimuli capable of eliciting a response from the organism, while the latter corresponds to that process through which information picked up by the sense organs is processed, organized and interpreted cognitively by our brain.
The levers of experiential marketing
Bernd Schmitt on the subject of sensory marketing argues that it is more important to enhance the experience of the product rather than the product itself.
According to him, it is possible to control the experience experienced by the consumer through the association of five different experiences with the product, called Strategic Experiential Modules (SEM).
These different experiences are to be applied to the product according to its characteristics and the peculiarities of the target audience and are:
- SENSE experiences: they involve sensory perception, i.e., the five senses. Sensory experiences can be used at all stages of the sale to increase the value of the product or service and to make the company recognizable in the eyes of consumers;
- FEEL experiences: they evoke customers' feelings and aim to create real affective experiences, which can range from simple satisfaction derived from the purchase to emotions of pride and belonging towards the product;
- THINK experiences: are cognitive and creative and aim to engage customers through mental problem-solving;
- ACT experiences: involve customers personally, sending them persuasive and motivational messages with the purpose of inviting them to act differently than they normally would;
- RELATE experiences: relate the consumer to a group of individuals with common interests and aspirations.
How to stimulate the senses
Resorting to the five senses to convey emotions not only allows one to increase the engagement rate, but also to reinforce the brand image and greatly increase the association with the brand and consequently the likelihood of remembering it.
In this way, one can change the approach that the consumer would have toward the product, providing him through the brand experience with more information with which to convince him to buy one rather than another.
What ultimately drives the buyer to choose a brand is therefore sensory and emotional involvement.
The five senses seen more closely.
1. VIEW
Sight is one of the dominant senses and is the one that is most subject to stimuli, not surprisingly about 80% of information is received through the eyes. Its importance derives primarily from the fact that it is the first real contact that can be established between the consumer and the brand.
As consumers today are subject to high and continuous visual pollution, it is crucial to understand how to communicate one's message distinctively, as the risk is to create confusion and disorientation and thus be ignored.
Today's advertising bombardment in fact prompts consumers to sometimes trigger defense mechanisms with which to protect themselves, forgetting or ignoring all communications that they do not find useful or that do not confirm their beliefs.
As far as colors are concerned, it is now well established that each has a different physiological impact on the individual and plays a major role both in foods, as each color is associated with a specific taste, and in fragrances, as coloring helps to identify fragrances from each other.
From the retail point of view, not only the choice of appropriate colors is very important but also the correct use of the play of light and shadow, which can greatly affect the enhancement of products in stores by increasing or decreasing their perceived quality.
An example in this regard is Sephora, which uses a minimalist layout in its stores in which the color black prevails, which enhances and enhances cosmetics while evoking femininity and luxury.
2. TATTO
Touch plays a very important role as consumers need to try products, test them and thus physically come into contact with them.
Today, this sense is gaining more relevance in the eyes of marketers mainly due to the fact that purchasing is increasingly taking place online and therefore consumers need certainty about what they are going to buy.
Individuals differ in their need to obtain information through tactile contact, therefore they have a different degree of "need for touch," i.e., the impulse to touch products to purchase.
This need depends mainly on the subjective experience felt toward the product: consumers with a higher need-for-touch index therefore have less confidence with it, so they need more sensory information to decide to proceed with the purchase or not.
Packaging in all this plays a very important role, as it does not simply serve to protect the product but must distinguish it from others, providing it with a unique appearance. It is therefore important that the packaging stands out not only to the eye, but also to the touch.
For example, Dolce&Gabbana has created velvet-topped packaging for some of its perfumes, which not only represents luxury but also being soft to the touch recalls the texture of ancient Sicilian carpets.
3. HEAR
Sound has the ability to attract consumers' attention, activate them emotionally in a consumer situation, and affect their psycho-physical state. Therefore, stimulation of hearing is extremely important, both in advertising and in the retail world.
In fact, music creates suggestions, becomes rooted in memory and generates positive or negative feelings that are reflected in the attraction or rejection for a brand, but not only that, it also allows to increase the length of stay in the store and can influence the choice of products to buy, the perception of the brand and the store.
For example, stores that sell body care products, such as the indoor corners at QC Terme spas, choose soft, uniform, relaxing music reminiscent of nature to make consumers empathize with the environment.
4. OLFACT
The sense of smell has a strong influence on consumer choices and is a major driver of decision making.
To date, there are many companies that have recognized the importance of this sense and some have even made it their workhorse, focusing their marketing strategy on olfactory stimulation.
A current and successful example in this regard is Lush, whose strength lies precisely in its ability to have been able to exploit certain fragrances to imprint its brand in people's minds and thus be more recognizable, as well as make its products more "palatable."
Other examples may include hotel chains, such as Sheraton, which has imbued its hotels with its own fragrance to remind people of the brand, or the fashion industry, where olfactory stimulation has instead been used for much longer.
Abercrombie&Fitch is a clear example, as it has made its perfume an unmistakable symbol of A&F brand recognition, spraying it both inside and outside its stores and even on the products themselves.
It is scientifically proven that the use of in-store fragrances causes a pleasant and memorable experience in the customer. Therefore, fragrance not only enables brand recognition and customer loyalty, but also makes it easier to memorize and increases in-store retention.
Finally, odors also contribute to a better perception of the product: a bag that exudes the classic leather scent will be perceived as being of better quality than one that, on the other hand, is odorless and will thus be more likely to be chosen and purchased.
5. TASTE
Obviously taste is dominant in food, however, it also has a strong interconnection with the other senses in that about 90 percent of what we perceive through it depends on smell, sight, and touch.
It has been shown, for example, that eating a dish in a plastic plate decreases its palatability compared to using a ceramic plate, just as beautiful plating makes a food more desirable than one made in an unkempt manner.
The importance of taste has gained so much relevance that today even non-food brands are resorting to its use.
Indeed, big fashion brands have tried to use this leverage to offer complementary services to the sale of their products, as Armani has done, for example, with its Emporio Armani Caffè, a classy place where food and fashion meet.
Sensploration: today's marketing must enhance all the senses
Traditionally, the 5 senses have always been studied in isolation by researchers, however, in recent years numerous examples of cross modal interactions have been documented that have shown how even sensory processing by one sense is modulated according to the others.
To define this trend of increasingly providing integrated sensory experiences Charles Spence coined the term sensploration, which is the act of stimulating multiple senses in new ways to enhance the overall experience.
In conclusion, resorting to sensory marketing can lead to an increase in the company's notoriety by strengthening its identity, making its image more recognizable and building customer loyalty, who as I wrote at the beginning are increasingly attracted by the experiences they can have through the purchase of products.
To make the shopping experience increasingly engaging, memorable and above all fulfilling today, therefore, stores must be able to stimulate all 5 senses, following a sensory marketing strategy capable of enhancing all of them in an integrated way.
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Lorenzo Ferrari
Brand Ambassador Digital Innovation Days20