Understanding Consumer Behavior & Marketing Techniques Used to Appeal to Customers

     Let’s start by revisiting some common childhood memories: the scent your mother’s freshly baked cookies in the kitchen; the aroma of your freshly laundered clothes after a long day of athletic activity and running around; the distinct smell of your mother’s specialty dish. These are all smells that we instantly recognize, albeit, in our own ways depending on our past experiences. Understanding that smells have the power to trigger memories and emotional responses, businesses have begun using marketing strategies to brand fragrances in attempt to attract customers. For example, when you walk into Starbucks, you will find that the whole store is filled with the strong smells of coffee beans and coffee being brewed. Even though Starbucks may not intentionally make their whole store smell like this, they are effectively (but indirectly) marketing their beverages well. Starbucks is known for its distinct rich, flavorful, and inviting coffee scent. Even one who has never been to or heard of Starbucks may be inclined to purchase a beverage if they are attracted to the smell that the store emanates.

Figure 2: Because of the constant circulation of coffee bean aromas, the distinct smell of coffee beans is often associated with popular coffee shops like Starbucks Coffee. Depending on what emotions and memories this smell induces, one may be very inclined (or not) to buy a coffee from such stores. Coffee shops like Starbucks attracts those who are fond of coffee aromas, and such customers often stay loyal to their brand if they receive excellent service and enjoy their overall experience.

     In “Brand Sense: Build Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound,” scholars Martin Lindstrom and Philip Kotler mention a study which shows that “84% of people were more likely to buy, or liked them more, when in a scented room. In the same study, many of the subjects reported they would pay 10-15% more for the product.” (Lindstrom and Kotler 2003). With this said, there is a strong correlation between the ambient smells of a store and customer’s response, which would then trigger their ultimate decision on whether or not they want to buy something.

BusinessVoice Marketing Minute: Benefits of Aroma Marketing
This YouTube video demonstrates how the sense of smell is used to create desire for certain products, like foods, beverages, clothing, and automobiles. The scents that businesses instill in their products and stores affect the consumers’ minds consciously and subconsciously, and strengthens consumer bonds to products, places, and experiences. The video effectively highlights the importance of smell with regard to the success of a business because it argues that shoppers can choose what they want to see while shopping, but unlike the practice of looking, the practice of smell is unavoidable. Study shows that places with pleasant aromas tend to make people stay up to 40% longer.

     You may have noticed over the years, that laundry detergents and cleaning products tend to be scented like fresh flowers, rain, or plants with alluring smells. Yet, you probably have not taken the time to contemplate the possibilities of why this may be. Why would competitors in the cleaning sector all choose to make their products smell similar to each other? This is because research has been done and indicated that when “customers sniff these products, it relates to a sense of comfort and pleasure in them.” In other words, based off of past experience and research, most consumers enjoy their clean laundry to smell like fresh nature. Going off of this, businesses strive to use similar scents to attract customers to buy their products. Even though the scents may be very similar or even the same, the consumer will also take into consideration the price and amount given per bottle to get the most of their money. By being able to smell such an aroma, one can not only distinguish between laundry detergent and bleach, but he/she can also look forward to the fresh, comforting scent after finishing his/her laundry. By understanding consumer behavior, businesses have successfully marketed their products to best suit their customers’ needs and interests.
     The use of fragrance marketing is also popular in the market for new homes. Think back to the last time you went shopping for a new home - you may remember that there were a couple homes that had distinct scents (from candles, air fresheners, or even freshly baked cookies) that may have put you at ease and triggered a fond memory, which then made you prefer those homes over the ones that may not have had such distinct scents. Typically, those who use scents in their homes are trying to not only market their homes and essentially, tell the prospective home-buyers that their home is better than the others in the market, but also, give the customer a sense of comfort and joy associated with the home. By doing this, they guide the customers to think that by buying this home, they will be able to enjoy this comfort and joy forever. Again, this shows how marketing products and places tend to be a lot more successful when fragrances and scents are used. By emanating a sense of pleasure, joy, comfort, and nostalgia, businesses effectively gain recognition and garner the interest of the consumers, which then brings them sales.

By Sharon Wu

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Sources:

Branding Strategies to Brand Fragrances and Machine Scents – What Effect Do They Have? Web. 04 May 2012. <http://www.mashave.com/business/branding-strategies-to-brand-fragrances-and-machine-scents-what-effect-do-they-have/>.

Lindstrom, Martin and Philip Kotler (2005). Brand Sense: Build Powerful Brands Through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.