How Scenting Can Influence Buying Decisions

Your How Scenting Can Influence Buying Decisions is a powerful part of your subconscious experience. It can remind you of a place or time in your life, and elicit feelings associated with it. In fact, scents are so ingrained in our brains that they’re sometimes unconsciously influencing our decisions, especially when it comes to purchasing products.

Strategic Scent Marketing

Scenting has been proven to evoke feelings and influence buying decisions in retail spaces, as well as in offices and other businesses. Research shows that the right aroma can entice consumers to spend more time in your business, and can increase sales and brand loyalty.

For example, vanilla is a popular scent that has been proven to stimulate food sales. This is because it triggers the reminiscence of mother’s milk, and has a soothing effect on shoppers. In addition, it can create a more welcoming environment for female customers. Similarly, chocolate and citrus fragrances are often used to stimulate sales in beauty and cosmetics. In one study, a gas station that diffused a coffee scent saw a 300 per cent increase in morning beverage sales.

Scents can also affect shopping decisions through cross-modal interactions with other sensory inputs, such as sound. Research suggests that scent valence and brand name congruence shape downstream consumer responses, with a stronger impact from a more congruent odor than a less-congruent odor. These results have implications for marketers seeking to exploit favorable product odors and for those who wish to reduce attention to unappealing product odors.