Marketing to the senses

In our real world we rely heavily on our 5 key senses , they influence our conscious and subconscious decisions moods and our behaviour.

For years department stores have played on all of these key elements in promotion and selling.

But what of the virtual world ?

On the web the sense of smell cannot be used, nor taste – these senses have to be evoked from our personal memories or by associations which we bring together in our mind to formulate this virtual picture.

Websites cannot translate the feeling of quality offered by touch, qualities such as weight and feel are impossible to translate through the click of a mouse. Of course these restrictions are not unique to the web, TV and radio have the same issue however the big difference is they are ‘ lean back ‘ mediums.

With the web and it’s interactivity there is an expectation to be provided with relevant and contextual information based on our enquiries, to be engaged, to have a dialouge. The relative infancy of the technbology means it’s full potential with regards to how and what information to present is still being realised.

Video improves sales

A recent survey from Vzaar found nearly 46% of internet shoppers have bought items online to find the item purchased was not exactly what they thought – the key hear is thought.

From a functional point of view this could be ‘ fit for the purpose ‘ – i.e a room freshener which does indeed freshen the room, however it fails to deliver the smell or effect only experience of the product could provide.

An interesting insight from the survey found over half the respondents said seeing a video would make them more likely to buy a product.

This makes a lot of sense, there are many feature comparison sites on the web but how do you convey a products actual size, look and functions in a manner over the web which we can relate – a simple picture is not enough.

Recognising the importance of video Dixons the UK electronics retailer have just collated all of their demonstrations ( it has been producing these for over a year ) into one place within their customer website.

If this were to be coupled with independent reviews from outside the groups website this could make for a great proposition to differentiate itself from it’s competitors.

key survey facts

• Six out of ten believe sites using video are more professional
• Half of all shoppers say seeing a video makes them more likely to buy
• Four out of ten shoppers have more trust in a site that uses video

M-Commerce

' point and shoot '

Nokia has announced a pilot in the UK for the phone to be used for payments. The handsets which will carry an RFID chip will allow users to ‘ swipe ‘ there phone on the London Underground to pay for journeys – presently the ‘ Oyster ‘ scheme operates across the entire underground and allows commuters to use a dedicated card which is ' swiped ' over special readers for the journey and is 'topped up‘ with credits.

marketing technology

In another recent trial in London, Oyster partnered with Barclaycard to allow for low value purchases to be made using the card.With the incorporation of the technology into the phone the UK can start to catch up to the wider use of this kind of technology in the Asian markets.

News International has started to incorporate QR codes on their most popular title ‘ The Sun ‘. QR codes or ‘ Quick Read ‘ codes will be present through the title over the coming months and will allow users to ‘ scan ‘ the codes to then receive content directly to there phones. The software is now incorporate into most new Nokia handsets and is downloadable from the web for other handset manufacturers.

While this still requires a download to the majority of handsets and the fact people in the UK are far happier with SMS codes I am not entirely sure of the viability of this method to direct people to ‘ content ‘ .

Schemes to extend barcodes to mobile are nothing new, however the application of this technology makes far more sense in this context.

Spam goes social

facebook spam

Message labs November report makes for grim reading, spam is still on the rise.

marketing technology

Amazingly 1 in 32 mails which passes through its global systems it classes as spam, this number is of course higher as it is impossible to capture all spam.

While this problem is a long way from every being controlled within email, social networks are now increasingly coming under attack from applications and general ' junk ' notifications within groups and personal messages. An example above from one of my Facebook groups which has come under siege from spammers.

How then do marketing departments use technology to not only over come the challenges of connecting to customers, but also differentiate themselves from the communication clutter which is spam.