Marketing Psychology and Consumer Behaviour
Perception is the process by which individuals select, organize, and interpret stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world, that is, “how we see the world around us.”
Perception is a coherent picture of our surrounding created by the 5 Sensory Stimuli
- Sight/Vision
- Scent/Smell
- Sound
- Touch
- Taste
Let’s understand the impact of each with a relatable example
Sight & Vision
Can you identify and differentiate the two brands?
Brands rely heavily on visual elements in advertising, store design, and packaging. They communicate meanings on the visual channel through a product’s color, size, and styling. Research shows that people perceive a product to be larger when it is presented in a highly saturated color that captures their attention to a greater extent than a paler hue.
Colors may even influence our emotions more directly. Evidence suggests that some colors (particularly red) create feelings of arousal and stimulate appetite, and others (such as blue) create more relaxing feelings. Colors have different association and influence based on Gender (blue for boy pink for girl), Age (pale colors for elderly and bright colors for youth), Regions (people from tundra regions prefer darker colors while people from equatorial region prefer brighter colors) and culture based preferences.
Scent & Smell
Why Starbucks has that strong coffee aroma all over its place?
Scents can stir emotions and or create feelings and liking. Research showed that subjects had a higher recall of brand’s attributes if it was embedded with a scent, consumers who viewed ads for either flowers or chocolate and who also were exposed to flowery or chocolaty odors spent more time processing the product information and were more likely to try different alternatives within each product category. Vanilla and cinnamon have strong taste as well as smell which can be easily recognizable. This form of sensory marketing takes interesting turns as manufacturers find new ways to put scents into products, including men’s suits, lingerie, detergents, and aircraft cabins.
Sound
The iconic Intel Chime is the perfect example for its brand perception and recognition, similarly the Titan Watches symphony and Airtel’s Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai are recognizable examples for their strong Sound Stimuli, that have lasting impression on consumers.
Music and other sounds affect people’s feelings and behaviors. Researchers are finding, for example, that (as we all probably knew already) when people drink beer and listen to music that’s consistent with that brand’s identity, they enjoy the beverage more. Have you wondered why Coca Cola ads have distinct audio visual of coke pouring into chilled glass filled with ice cube with pouring glug glug sound in the background, to arouse the thirst for the coke so whenever your see the coke ad on hoardings on road you will get the sudden urge of thirst and the first thing you think is Coke. Probably that’s why they say Thanda Matlab Coca Cola!!
Touch
Most marketing communications appeal to sight and sound. Nevertheless, smell and touch also represent considerable opportunities for targeting consumers. Several studies indicated that touching a product influences persuasion and that touching could be used as a persuasive tool. Retailers are keenly aware that most purchase decisions are made at the point of purchase. The choice between shopping online and shopping in stores is often made around the ability to touch products in stores. Think about going to the Apple Store and being allowed to play with all the products on display. Apple knows that touching and using the products in the store leads to more purchases. Sony decided to offer touchscreens on its e-readers after its engineers repeatedly observed people in focus groups automatically swipe the screen of its older, non touch models.
Taste
Our taste receptors obviously contribute to our experience of many products. So-called “flavor houses” develop new concoctions to please the changing palates of consumers. Marketers can influence the perception of taste with sights and sounds.
Coca Cola Drinkable Ad Campaign is the coherent blend of all the Sensory Stimuli, Sound, Sight, Taste, Touch and Smell. Well that’s why it is the most sold drink in the world toped only by the secret formula of life H2O – The Water!!
Marketing Psychology and Consumer Behaviour
Murtaza Choolawala
Geologist, Marketer
Hi, I am Murtaza, an enthusiastic researcher. Always curious to learn new things and to connect with people. Tech and Marketing are my obsession, and Research and Analysis are my Passion.
Marketing Psych 
One thought on “How Perception Influences Consumer Behaviour?”