Sensory Marketing: Emotions to Win Over Your Customer

What do the senses and a company's sales growth have in common? Although at first glance there isn't much of a link, sensory marketing is leading many brands to success by using the emotional component together with our five senses to capture the customer's attention and turn their purchase into an experience that makes them a loyal consumer of the brand.

Keep in mind that in life, not everything is about appealing to reason if you want to build customer loyalty — it's ideal to dig into the realm of the senses. A lasting memory, a pleasant scent, a song you hum along to — these are the perceptions that stick in our memory and become a way to attract customers and develop sensory marketing.

To get the most out of this tool, we share some tips for making sensory marketing your best ally.

• Smell.

  This is one of the most stimulated senses. A pleasant scent during a customer's visit is what will captivate them into visiting the establishment again and again. A blend of scents evokes situations or moments that can feel pleasant, and by feeling “close” to that appealing context, the customer decides to come back. Smell has begun to gain special ground within sensory marketing, as the addition of personalized fragrances — candles, air fresheners, fabric deodorizers, among others — has translated into average revenue increases of more than 30% for businesses. This figure is backed by research from Utrecht University published in the journal Psychological Science, which found that smells help communicate human emotions.

• Sight.

  “Everything enters through the eyes,” goes an old saying. According to measurement tool Kissmetrics, for 85% of customers, color acts as the first filter in their purchase decision, and it's the main attribute for brand recognition among 80% of consumers. The combination of colors, typography and brand design with new trends can make a strong impact on the consumer and drive them to choose a particular product or service. Colors like blue are recommended for building the corporate image of online retail businesses; if you want to convey prestige or exclusivity, go for black or gold. If you want to grab attention, red is the best choice, since it's visually pleasing and conveys warmth.

• Hearing.

  A pleasant, modern melody that matches what the brand offers. If the company focuses on selling home goods, it's ideal to choose music that makes customers feel at home, to make sure they become loyal to the brand and its products. This resource is widely used at Christmas, Independence Day or specific celebrations, where music is used to grab the customer's attention and stimulate their hearing so that, drawn in by the melody, they enter the store, feel comfortable and buy. Another resource also used by stores or large retailers depends on the time of day and customer traffic. During slow periods, the music is relaxed, stretching out the shopping moment and creating a more exploratory browsing experience. On weekends, on the other hand, the music can be more upbeat to speed things up and encourage customer turnover.

• Touch.

  Tactile marketing is being greatly underused. In businesses where you walk in and find a sign that says “do not touch,” a barrier goes up in front of the consumer. Touching a pair of headphones, listening to an artist's new album and handling the tracks on their CD has become a pleasant experience that drives sales. That's exactly what iStore does — the simple act of touching the store's products makes the consumer feel they're already theirs, letting them test how much easier their life would be with an iPad, an iPhone or a Mac, thereby boosting sales. When a customer spends money and tries on any garment (in the case of clothing) or touches any product they like, it becomes a great opportunity to let anyone judge the product's quality before taking it home. If the product is good, then word of mouth can be a powerful tool to attract more customers and keep a business on an upward curve.

• Taste.

  If your company offers hot or cold beverages, it's important to keep in mind details that seem minor — not just how the product is served, but how to get the customer to stay longer at your location. Most people like places where they feel at home, whether it's sharing a conversation or a business chat for an extended time. Sensory marketing reaches consumers to go unnoticed and get them to sync emotionally with a good or service, which shows we've moved from purely visual marketing to an experience that wraps us in emotions, memories and moments that go beyond the moment of purchase, extending into our everyday lives and becoming part of who we are.