How sense of smell can give you a business advantage?

How sense of smell can give you a business advantage?

Sense of smell is one of the 5 ways we all can perceive the world around us. The other four senses being – Vision, Taste, Touch, and Sound. These 5 senses contribute to our understanding of reality and ultimately our life. Also, they have a huge influence on our minds and decisions. And the smell is one such powerful sense which has helped humans survive and thrive.

Can smells change our motivation levels?

Can smell be a game-changer for businesses?

Most of the people were indeed ignorant and careless about the sense of smell, before COVID! We all had taken it for granted and we never really made a conscious effort to elevate our sense of smell. And when we briefly lost it, we realized how empty our world was, without it. 

Read more about - Losing The Ability To Smell During COVID – How Does It Feel?

Can smells change our motivation levels?

Several scientific studies have indicated that different fragrances can actually reduce anxiety, improve alertness, and get people in good mood. It has been linked with Dopamine secretion in the brain which enhances motivation levels.

For example, the smell of moist soil after rain is linked with a sense of comfort and contentment. The smell of citrus fruits has an appetizing effect and makes you hungry. The flowery smell of lavender makes you feel calm and relaxed. These types of smells enhance the motivation levels and they inspire you positively. And at the same time, there are smells which demotivate you, such as – the smell of poop, pollution, rotten food, etc.

So, Yes! Smells have a big impact on our motivation levels.

Can smell be a game changer for businesses?

If we see the history of customer communication, only audio and visual mediums have been used to communicate with the audience/ customers. Sense of touch to a certain extent as in the case of physical products, customers get to touch it and assess its qualities before making a purchase.

Taste and smell however have not been explored in advertising and communication that much. For example, when you pick up a pack of chips, you can see its image and that of flavours in it. Or when you see an advertisement of a soap, you still cannot gauge its aroma.

We already know that smell plays an important part in the motivation levels of a person. Imagine, if businesses can infuse smell factor in their communication strategy, it can be a game-changer.

How to leverage smell factor in communication?

That is the real challenge. But the scientists are already working on it. There are numerous ways in which smell can be communicated to people electronically. So, you can expect new gadgets and systems which also incorporate the sensation of smells, just like Virtual Reality. And the businesses that can leverage this technology for their progress, will definitely have an advantage over others.

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