Appealing To The Senses: How Multi-Sensory Experiences Increase Customer Dwell Times

Customers have unlimited shopping choices nowadays, therefore retailers must find ways to differentiate themselves from the competition, going beyond standard norms.

Today, customer preferences sway towards experiential retailing, where 73% of customers believe a good in-store experience is key to influencing their brand loyalties, and 64% of people find customer experience more important than price. The store is much more than a sales channel, it's the sole opportunity for customers to physically engage with brands.

To make that special, retailers need to ignite all of their customers' senses.

What is sensory marketing?

Sensory marketing is a form of marketing that engages the five senses of your target audience. The purpose of this strategy is to influence customers into purchasing more and staying longer in-store by appealing to their sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. Most retailers today are dabbling in this, trying out one or two sense-enhancing techniques, but none have really mastered the full five.

“I have racked my brain to think of a retailer that has managed to orchestrate all of the senses. Not one retail brand has cracked it.” — Darren Coleman, Author of Building Brand Experiences: A Practical Guide to Retaining Brand Relevance

The five senses uncovered

Sight

Sight is one of the easiest senses for retailers to appeal to and subconsciously influence customer behavior with. Through interior, colors, digital signage, product displays, and more, there are many opportunities for retailers to offer in-store visual cues that increase customer linger time and spur extra purchases. However, if the visual prompts are not tailored to your customers' interests, then retailers will miss out on sales. By using customer intelligence technology in-store, brick-and-mortars get real-time insights into their customers and are able to target them more effectively.  

Smell

satisfaction by 20% when strategically used by retailers and other industries. The sense also has a ‘‘direct link to the brain’s limbic system…which deals with long-term memory.’’ Brands use emotional marketing to build a stronger connection with customers and strengthen their brand identity. Whether it be a scent with fresh, floral, or woody notes, a great store aroma will make customers associate the store with a pleasant atmosphere, resulting in heightened value perception.

Raydiant’s partnership with ScentAir enables retailers to combine digital signage with fragrance to create memorable, holistic in-location experiences. Lead your customers by the nose using the power of aroma and incite more purchases.

Sound

Everyone remembers at least one catchy soundtrack from a brand that they love, and no matter where the song plays, it instantly carries them off on a thought spin about their products. By creating a distinguishable sound for your business, you leave a lasting impression on customers, and create a stronger identity. Brands with music that “fits” their brand identity are 96% likelier to prompt memory recall.Additionally, by playing the right music in-store you can increase customer dwell time and influence their purchase behaviors. 

Using Raydiants Experience Platform and partnership with Soundtrack Your Brand, retailers play tracks that suit the tone of their brand, choosing from over 380 record labels along with album art and visuals.

Taste

The way to the heart is through the stomach and using food marketing, retailers win the hearts of their customers. Offering customers samples of food or drink makes them feel valued which can be the deciding factor when choosing your store over the competition. The mere sight of particular foods can release ‘feel good’ chemicals like serotonin, making customers associate your store with a happy place. Giving out freebies to customers also gets them talking, driving more traffic to your store.

Touch

Customers love the tactile experience of physical retail, or the ability to get hands-on with products before purchasing. This is one edge that physical retail has over online shopping and a top reason why people love coming to brick-and-mortar stores. Through touch, customers will spend more time in-store trying on, testing, and interacting with products, improving the chances that they will purchase them.

Shaping experiences

Brick-and-mortars hold the single greatest advantage of affecting the lived experience of both customers and employees. The moment each steps inside a store, brands have the power to inspire and create memorable spaces that customers love. By nailing multi-sensory marketing and triggering positive emotions, retailers can increase customer dwell time, heighten store value perception, earn repeat business, and maximize profits.

If you're ready to make your brand experience brilliant using Raydiant, book a demo with us today.