The Perceptual Process

Perception is the process by which sensations are selected, organised and interpret (Solomon, 2015).

Sensation refers to the immediate response of our sensory receptors, such as eyes, ears, nose, mouth, fingers and skin to basic stimuli ( e.g.: light, colour, sound, odor and texture) (Solomon, 2015).
In sensory marketing, there are several human senses can help us to dictate what appeals to us, the followings are vision, smell, hearing, touch and taste. Through this sensation, customers will receive different sensory stimuli in their brain. They may see a colourful picture, hear the music, feel a fluffy jumper, taste the spicy Thai curry or smell a perfume. Therefore, understanding the perception can effectively influence the design of a product, service or experience as well as to help people to understand how marketers use symbols to create meaning. Here are some examples of sensory marketing.

Vision

Colour is one the factors that influence the human emotions. Through different colour, it will affect different feelings, reactions, mood and experiences of customers, such as red stimulates appetite and blue relaxes. According to Cherry (2015), some of ancient cultures, such as Egyptians and Chinese will use colour Psychology as therapy to treat the illness. In this treatment:

• Red was used to stimulate the body and mind and to increase circulation.

• Yellow was thought to stimulate the nerves and purify the body.

• Orange was used to heal the lungs and to increase energy levels.

• Blue was believed to soothe illnesses and treat pain.

• Indigo shades were thought to alleviate skin problems.

Therefore, colours also have the impact on treatment which can help people to recognise the colours of the treatment.Furthermore, colours also have different meanings in different cultures. For instance, red colours in Chinese culture which means good fortune and joy, especially in the Chinese festivals. Red can be found in everywhere during Chinese New Year, such as red envelope and red couplets which symbolizes good luck. However, red will be banned to use at funerals as it is a traditionally symbolic colour of happiness.

Smell

Smell is one of the powerful stimuli that affect the human’s brain to receive the sensory. It also has a huge evocative power of memories and experiences over the years. For instance, every time when we enter to McDonald’s or KFC in every country, there is a same smell in every McDonald’s and KFC. It is because McDonald’s and KFC have the unique way to make their food which can ensure every consumer can get the same experience and same perception in their shop. Therefore, McDonald’s and KFC are using the smell perception to evoke the customer’s memory or remind them the shop that they visited before in the other country.

Hearing

Music is another factor that affects customers’ feeling and behaviours in hearing. Nowadays, most of the shop or restaurants are using music or other sounds to influence the atmosphere of their shop. This can be the sound symbolism of the shop that affects the customer to come up with brand names pay attention. For instance, Samsung and Apple will have their unique ringtone of an incoming call. These kinds of ringtone can help the customer to evoke the memory of the brand and it can also contribute to a consumption experience. Moreover, vision, smell and hearing are the three main senses that marketing will focus on. Through these three senses, it can help the marketers understand more how these kinds of senses can appeal to customers. Thusly, it can help them to design a suitable product, service or experience to customers. 

References

Cherry, K. (2015). Color Psychology: How Colors Impact Moods, Feelings, and Behaviors. Retrieved from: http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm. 

Solomon, M. R. (2015). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being(Eleventh;Global; ed.). Boston: Pearson.