If you’ve ever walked into a store with a particular window display or a fresh and delicious scent, you will probably remember for a long time what that place was like.
This is because the senses are closely linked to the human memory and people are more likely to remember places where they have experienced intense emotions. This is why all stores should consider the impact on their business of a multisensory sales strategy: the more senses you can stimulate and activate, the stronger the emotion and memory will be.
Activate emotions by stimulatting the senses
Making your heart beat is worth more than a discount: to reach people, activating emotions is a very effective way, because emotions bypass the filter of selective perception. And this is only possible with the help of the senses, which are primary carriers for emotions.
Stimulating the senses triggers an emotional response. Consumers therefore experience sensations that make them more involved and engaged in what is offered to them in the store.
Therefore, the first step to be aware of is that when you welcome a customer everything they perceives in the environment contributes, positively or negatively to their overall shopping experience. Everything can affect them, including the air they breathe, especially in these times.
Customers engaged and stimulated through all five senses spend more time in the store and are more likely to shop.
Each stimulated sense can be considered a point of contact, an opportunity to create an emotional connection with a client.
Let’s see them together!
What you will find in this article
Strengthen sight
Sight, together with smell, is the driving sense to reduce barriers to purchase and increase impulse sales: what you see in the window to the first items inside the store is what leads people to decide to enter. And there is no better way to enhance visual merchandising than with a strategic and vibrant use of colours. In particular, the use of colour to enhance or arouse a certain mood from customers can affect the perception of your store and attract people. However, that doesn’t mean you need to use rainbow or primary colours – a monochrome or black and white display case could be a great way to make your products stand out. Another important factor for eyesight is lighting: a cold light in the fitting room, for example, flattens and grays and the effect of the worn dress will be an undesirable one.
-> The advice: study the colours of your brand, do not leave anything to chance. Do you have a colour palette that characterizes your shop? Do you change colours according to the seasons or holidays? What accessories do you use to stimulate sight and curiosity?
Taking care of the sense of smell
Smell is the only sense directly connected with the limbic system of the brain, which deals with long-term memory and emotions. If you want customers to become fond of your store, you need to give them something they can connect with to remember: fresh, crisp and light air, clean air, to breathe in serenity.
This type of environment, healthy, constantly sanitised, is the ideal space for shopping and will be remembered as a relaxing place because it is safe. With Jonix devices this happens continuously, while people are in the environment: Jonix Non-Thermal Plasma technology keeps the air and surfaces of your store decontaminated, prevents infections from airborne diseases (including Covid-19, such as from tests of the University of Padua), eliminates unwanted odours, improves oxygen absorption, reducing the state of stress
-> The advice: healthy and sanitised air is a competitive advantage, find out how to enhance it
Ignite the hearing
Even this element cannot be accidental: how many times, entering a store, did you feel annoyed by the presence of the radio that was too loud or because of music that had nothing to do with the style and the products you saw on display? A dedicated soundtrack, which reflects the mood with which you want to involve your customers is an important choice: it’s about creating a symphony of sounds that captures the heart and soul of your shop. The right in-store music also affects memory, emotions and movement. A study revealed that the pulses and tones of music activate connections in the brain, including the limbic system linked to memory and emotions.
-> The advice: remember that it is not possible to stream music from Spotify, ITunes, and other streaming services, even if you have a paid subscription, it is always necessary to get active with the copyright management companies (Collecting Society).
Prompt touching
The tactile experience of shopping – touching, feeling and experiencing – is a huge lure for customers. About 50% of consumers do not buy online precisely because this part of the shopping experience is missing. According to some studies, the more people touch products while shopping, the more likely they are to buy. It’s called the “endowment effect,” whereby people value the things they already have more and touching a product in the store tends to make them feel like they own it.
To encourage people to touch and try, it can be useful to have dedicated baskets and shelves, where people can place their bags and what they are holding, making it easy and agile to approach products with peace of mind.
-> The advice: how can you guarantee hygiene and safety by inviting your customers to have hands on experience with the products? Through an air and surface sanitisation system as Jonix: with a Non-Thermal Plasma device near products and in test environments you can continuously and quickly decontaminate what is exposed, eliminating viruses and bacteria.