“Try focusing on the touch
and taste (if it applies)
rather than what a product
looks like.”
SENSE THIS:
How Ad Copy Can Affect When a Purchase is Made
ew research finds the type of sensory experience
an advertisement conjures up in our mind—taste
and touch vs. sight and sound—has a fascinating
effect on when we make purchases.
The study, led by marketing professors at Brigham Young
University and the University of Washington, found that adver-
tisements highlighting more distal sensory experiences (sight
and sound) led people to delay purchasing, while highlighting
more proximal sensory experiences (touch and taste) led to
earlier purchases.
Researchers conducted four lab studies and a pilot study
involving more than 1,100 subjects. Each experiment found that
people caught up in the taste and touch of a product or event
were more likely to be interested at an earlier time.
In one example, study subjects read ad copy for a summer
festival taking place either this weekend or next year. Two
versions of the ad copy existed: one emphasizing taste (“You
will taste the amazing flavors...”) and one emphasizing sound
N
(“You will listen to the amazing sounds...”).
When subjects were asked when they would like to attend,
those who read the ad copy about taste had a higher interest in
attending a festival this weekend. Those who read ads empha-
sizing sounds were more likely to have interest in attending the
festival next year.
“If an advertised event is coming up soon, it would be better
to highlight the more proximal senses of taste or touch, such as
the food served at the event, than the more distal senses of
sound and sight,” says Ann Schlosser, a professor of marketing
at the University of Washington and co-lead author of the
study. “This finding has important implications for marketers,
especially those of products that are multi-sensory.”
This is a telling study for members of the spa community. For
spa services, advertisement wording should reflect the touch
and feel of the treatment rather than visual aspects of the spa.
The same is true for spa products. Try focusing on the touch
and taste (if it applies) rather than what a product looks like. n
September 2017
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PULSE
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