The 5 Senses Through Marketers' Lenses

Sensory Marketing is defined as marketing that engages the consumers' senses and affects their perception, judgment and behavior.  By simply manipulating a few sensory factors, certain beliefs, feelings, thoughts and opinions can change in a consumer’s mind. 

Sight: Sight is the most popular sense to use when marketing.  Visuals allow us to judge the products or services quality level or over "theme". These influencing visuals can range from a color pallet, font type, or store layout.  For example, the difference in the packaging for Double Stuf Oreos vs. Oreo Thins. Double Stuff Oreos use Bold Font with the heavy cookies placed towards the bottom of the package (creating a heavier feel/contains more calories).  In contrast, the Oreo Thins use lighter shades and the thin cookies are almost floating (which creates a lighter feel/contains few calories).

Sound: What a consumer hears effects their mood.  Just as in a Jaws movie, we know a shark is right around the corner once the scary music starts. For a marketing example, when consumers are shopping in a Von Maur department store, there is many times a piano player playing classical music.  A shopper might suddenly feel sophisticated,  therefore feel that they can afford that exquisite dress they might usually consider out of their price range.

Smell: Smell is many times used to evoke memories and past experiences.  For this reason, marketers use it to create remembrance of a brand and to trigger emotion.  For example, Mrs. Field’s Cookies stores are located in malls all over the U.S.  They are constantly baking cookies that disperse an irresistible smell that remind many of us of past times.  Perhaps, the smell reminds us of when we’re young and our grandma is teaching us her secret chocolate chip cookie recipe. For that reason, we may be more inclined to purchase a delicious warm cookie. 

Taste: Although taste is a sense that is more limited than the other 4 senses, it still plays an important role in marketing, specifically with food and beverage companies.  Grocery stores can offer free samples to engage and persuade consumers into buying the full offering of a product. Taste impacts how you are feeling.  For example, at Tiffany’s, shoppers are greeted with a glass of champagne to elevate the already elegant shopping experience.

Touch: A sense of touch is vital to consumers. We judge quality of apparel and the freshness of food after we’ve touched the product.  Many consumers have a high need-for-touch (NFT) when assessing products.  The NFT scale was designed to measure individual differences in preference for haptic (touch) information.  For this reason, many online sellers struggle with those that rate high on this scale.  For example, when mattress stores allow customers to come into their show-rooms and touch, sit on, and lay on their mattresses, they are more likely to have customers who are confident with their purchase decisions because they "felt what they are getting". 

When done correctly, companies that create a multisensory brand experience increase the perceived value, and increase the likelihood of consumers positively remembering the product or service.  Senses can create for an unforgettable shopping experience.