Multi-sensory marketing: Elevate your customer journey from mundane to memorable

Photo of woman sniffing by food counter by Ion Ceban

In today’s crowded digital landscape, grabbing attention and creating lasting connections with your customers requires more than just a pretty website or eye-catching ad.

Forget flat visuals and tired sales messages, the key to getting customers to make repeat visits to your leisure or hospitality business lies in crafting an immersive experience that engages all five senses. That’s where multi-sensory marketing comes in.

Throughout this article, we’ll explore the five key pillars of multi-sensory marketing and delve into how you can leverage them to create a richer, more engaging experience for your customers. We’ll also delve into the exciting potential of digital signage as a tool to help you deliver a multi-sensory customer experience.

What is multi-sensory marketing?

When our senses work together, they influence our emotions and shape our decisions. Multi-sensory marketing taps into this power, crafting a branded experience that resonates deeply and leaves a lasting impression.

As a marketer it makes perfect sense to craft a multi-sensory customer experience in theory, but how do you deliver it in practice and create a customer journey that truly wows and drives repeat visits?

Paint a Sensory Picture

Visuals are important, but don’t stop there. Use high-quality images, engaging videos, and even 3D elements to create a visual spectacle. Think beyond showing your site or the products you offer – showcase its use in vibrant settings, capture emotions on faces, and evoke a sense of adventure.

Let the Music Play

It stands to reason that the right music can set the mood for customers, influence purchasing decisions, and even subconsciously guide customer flow. Upbeat tunes energize, while calming melodies relax. But if what customers are seeing and hearing feel separate, they’re getting a disjointed experience. Visuals and sound should be complementary and create a clear, curated user experience.

Remember, volume and genre matter, so tailor the soundscape to the experience you want to create, and which will reflect your brand in the correct way. Ideally it should exceed what your target audience is expecting.

Scent-sational Strategies

Smell is arguably one of our most powerful and evocative senses, instantly transporting us to different places and triggering powerful emotions. The smell of stale beer, blocked toilets or disinfectant is guaranteed to shape your customer’s experience of your leisure or hospitality venue, but not in a positive way. As such, it’s crucial to be mindful of the smells inside and around your site/s, and to select what customers smell, rather than leaving it up to chance.  Use scent responsibly, however, as strong or artificial fragrances can backfire.

Touchy-Feely Experiences

Let customers interact with your brand physically. Look for ways to bring it to life and make it interactive using touch. The possibilities are endless. Consider displays of textures, or interactive demonstrations or touchscreens to create a feeling of play and create a deeper connection between your brand and customer.

Don’t Forget the Taste!

If you have a food and beverage offering, looks for ways to show off the flavours available to try on site, especially if these are luxurious/indulgent. This could be samples to try on a F&B counter – which is likely to encourage further purchases – or a small, complementary food/drink gift upon arrival (being mindful of allergens/allergies). This will bring awaken all of your customers’ senses, and make them feel like the experience you offer is tangible and out of the ordinary.

Using digital signage to create a multi-sensory experience

Now, how can you translate these multi-sensory experiences into the digital realm?

Enter digital signage. At first, you could be forgiven for thinking that digital displays can only deliver visuals and maybe sound, but there’s more to it than that.

Visual Fireworks: Use high-definition screens to direct customers’ attention to specific place and showcase stunning visuals, captivating product presentations, and even interactive 3D experiences. This will instantly set out what it is you want your customers to think about and feel.

Sound Immersion: Integrate speakers and audio from the displays to create a more integrated and captivating experience.

Scent Diffusion: Popcorn has long been used by cinemas to introduce a warm, inviting smell to their foyers and the smell of freshly-ground coffee to cafes, but modern technology means that you no longer need to bring a specific food or drink into a room to generate a smell. While still in its early stages, scent diffusion technology can be integrated with digital signage allowing you to use technology to control what people smell and when during their experience in your venue.

Interactive Touch: Touchscreen displays can add a playful element, allowing customers to explore products, play games, learn or even leave feedback.

Taking the next steps

Multi-sensory marketing is all about creating a cohesive, memorable experience. Don’t just throw random sensory elements at your audience. Consider and map out each sense at every stage of the customer journey within your venue and look for ways to create a positive, harmonious, sensual experience that is unique to your brand.

By going beyond the visual and audible and engaging all five senses, you can create a customer journey that’s emotionally charged, unforgettable, and, importantly, repeatable. So, ditch the dull and embrace the power of multi-sensory marketing for your leisure or hospitality venue.

Want to learn more or find out how we could help you to craft a memorable customer journey for your leisure venue or hospitality business? Simply fill in the form below and a member of our team will contact you to talk through the experiences you want to create.