Experience the brand with all your senses
06.12.2018 / Expert Articles
Many firms have a hard time holding on to the central theme throughout their concept. Catching on to the quick development of trends, laws and technological changes is without a doubt a challenge. As shown in the previous article "Customer Experience" customer’s needs for an excellent customer experience in a shop rises and differs a brand or a firm from other producers.
Furthermore physical customer experience stores affect the shopping in the offline mode. The internet, useful softwares like Modiface*, high-quality pictures or detailed explaining texts and quick to access videos can help the customer to find the right product. Good online shops haven’t been holding back the pros and cons of a product for a long time. Materials and consistency can be seen correctly, technical and cost aspects can be compared in seconds and authentic costumer ratings can support the decision while shopping.
So, how can you captivate a customer in the shop? How can a customer experience fun at the shop? How can customers get an added value, which they possibly would not get online without being seen as an on- and offline competitor?
Nowadays an omnichannel is a standard and should become the main target of a strategical realisation. The many possibilities, which can be realised on- and offline, should have priority and help a brand or firm achieving success working in synergy.
Many possibilities Offline
Everything that is only possible online through videos, colours, forms and tones, the offline-way gives you the chance to be more intensive. Even though, there are possibilities to walk around a shop with the help of Augmented Reality or Virtual Reality, it is still not the same to classically walk through a shop and let every sense work.
The magic word is haptic! Touching and feeling something is important for the stationary trade. That is where brands and firms can begin and drastically higher the haptical experience in a shop. That is yet something that cannot transfer to the keyboard of our laptops or monitors: the feeling of touching a structure, feeling and experiencing.
Association quality of a brand and firm through surface
Tell a story about your product, not just any, tell the real one! It is essential to reflect your ethics, history, product quality and knowhow through every material that is being used in your shop. Matt, shiny, solid, soft, structured – what do you want to transmit? Is it a trendy product? A natural product? Where does the material come from? How does it smell? How long-lasting is it? All these information have an enormous impact to the communication strategy of the company and customers’ experience.
Mistakes are welcomed
Did you know, that customers are okay with little mistakes, when they see that natural materials have been used? Especially veneer and real wood products have to fight against plastic manufacturers, which offer better quality to the market, likewise the artificial leather industry. Customers, who see a real wood counter with fissures, colour unevenness and structure, see and feel that the product is “real”.
This realness is very important for marketing-wise storytelling, because real wood for example is transporting the message: “We don’t save at the wrong place.”, “We care about the environment.”, “We work with quality.”, “We want the best for you and our co-workers.” and “We are sustainable.”
Other natural products which reflect strength, warmth and nature are cork, rattan, stone, ceramic, terracotta, linen, silk and cotton. These materials can individually be used for the right shop. What unite them all are the quality and the message of the value.
Sending the wanted message with a good nose
The nose is an organ that should not be underestimated when it comes to the association of material and message. It doesn’t matter if the wood or leather smells and shows realness or if a christmas-like fir tree scent flows through the rooms, one thing is for sure: it has a big impact. Scents can only be described online, whereas in the actual shop they can be smelled. Essential oils like lavender, tangerine or rosemary go straight through the limbic system and spread their effects, since there are approximately 30 million nerve cells on 5 m² in our nasal mucosa. The odorant molecules dock on to the nerve cell receptors and create a signal, which go through the olfactory nerve directly to the limbic system. The limbic system is one of the oldest brain areas and has a strong impact to the humanly feelings and emotions. That way scents can calm down, wake up or give freshness, spread purity, improve the concentration, higher appetite or even raise one’s spirit. Essential oils can be used ideally to transport individual brand and firm philosophy and underline the feeling in the shop (e.g. increasing or refreshing concentration).
„This smells like something I know.“ Certain scents in a shop evoke associations, which can kick in diversely for each individual. Of course it is important to find the right scent that is appealing for the generality. In some cases some scents can effect in a positive but also in a negative way (e.g. lavender “grandma’s old mothball” versus “vacation in France”). It is important to examine customers through market surveys and exact target group analyses, to fulfil wishes and requests.It would be best of all to surprise customers in a positive way - with every sense.
*Modiface, an advanced software, that gives you the chance to put on make-up virtually (customers can move as they want and do strong mimical changes and the tested make-up still stays on the right places, with the most true colour).
About the author:
Carina Patrizia Gerards
M.Sc. International Marketing Management with Consumer Psychology
Carina, born in 1987, is a Marketing Manager at Figo GmbH. She accomplished her studies in Germany and Scotland and already worked in eight different countries, which significantly shaped her working method and the understanding of costumers of different markets. Her actual roots lay in the cosmetics industry, but her love of arts and interior design brought her to Figo and gave her the chance to combine her passion: retail industry, interior and sustainability.