Manizesto

Of all your marketing efforts, using smell to influence customers is probably not one you’ve considered.

But maybe you should. Researchers and companies are starting to realize the impact smells can make. Kia, for example, has re-engineered their new car smell to suit European buyers, KFC has begun putting plates full of their food on the mail carts of corporate offices and wafting the smell around the entire company, and Kumho Industrial has even developed lavender-scented tires.

If you want to start using scent to increase your sales revenues, here’s a list of the most successful scents for marketing:

Chocolate Chip Cookies. The Journal of Consumer Research just published a study that found that the smell of fresh-baked cookies had a strong impact on female shoppers, even when the shopped-for product was completely unrelated to food. A snippet:

Female study participants in a room with a hidden chocolate-chip cookie scented candle were much more likely to make an unplanned purchase of a new sweater — even when told they were on a tight budget — than those randomly assigned to a room with a hidden unscented candle (67 percent vs. 17 percent). Read more

Citrus. The fresh smell of citrus fruits has been found to influence shoppers’ propensity to make an impulse purchase and improve their desire to buy something. The caveat here is that the smells were only found to be effective when the stores were moderately busy; when the stores were not busy or too crowded, the effect of the smell disappeared. The study found that:

These citrus-enhanced feelings were money in the bank for the retailers: Under the heady influence of the aroma, each shopper spent about $20 U.S. more per outing, the research team reported. Read more

Floral Scent. I love the smell of new sneakers, but Nike has found flowers more effective. The study revealed that people are willing to spend more on shoes and are more willing to purchase shoes if the room smells like flowers.

Another study found that gamblers in Las Vegas spent 50% more time in casinos when the casino floor was scented with a floral scent; the stronger the smell, the longer people stayed.

Perfume/Cologne. Men rated women 20% more attractive when they had been sprayed with a pleasant fragrance. Newsflash! Stinky smells are a turn off! It seems like a no-brainer, but smelling pleasant can actually have an impact on how well your board meetings, personal sales meetings and customer service interactions turn out. Read more

For more interesting marketing insights, subscribe to this blog (Photo courtesy blmurch).