You’ve implemented scent marketing strategies for your business…now what? Beyond smelling the difference yourself, how can you tell if it’s working? From the beginning, measuring scent marketing efforts is critical. To determine just how much scent branding is helping your business, you need a baseline for where you started.
Measuring the Success of Scent Marketing
Now that your foray into scent marketing has begun, it’s crucial to measure the success of your efforts to see if they have the desired effects. By tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPI) across important categories, you can quantify changes to how customers perceive their experience and recognize your brand…and how those factors translate to increased sales, and more!
Objectives
For any strategy, establishing clear objectives is key. To work best, they should be written clearly and concisely and agreed to by all decision makers. And, they should be easily measured. Need a little guidance on establishing and defining your objectives? This paper from the University of California is a helpful guide.
Metrics
Establishing your objectives should immediately lead to the metrics you will observe over time. When the objectives are clearly defined, the accompanying metrics follow suit.
These may include, but are not limited to:
- Customer traffic
- Customer dwell time
- Customer brand recognition/loyalty
- Direct sales volume
- Employee satisfaction
- Employee productivity levels
Hardware Performance
Evaluating your hardware performance is a necessity in establishing a baseline for your efforts. If your scent dispensers are struggling to work at peak efficiency or you simply aren’t thrilled with their effectiveness, you may have an issue with your supplier. At Aire-Master, we pride ourselves on taking great care of our clients with top-quality equipment, quick response time, efficient solutions, and superior service.
Measure and Improve
By consistently monitoring and measuring to see how your metrics compare with your objectives, you can evaluate where things stand. Next, as with any scientific evaluation, changes must be made to evaluate their impact.
By learning more about how effective your efforts are—namely by understanding more about dependent and independent variables—you can gain greater insight into the adjustments you may need to make.
“You can’t improve what you don’t measure.”
This powerful and influential statement about managing a business is often credited to Peter Drucker, the theorist and consultant often seen as the father of modern business management.
Qualitative vs Quantitative
Study after study has confirmed that smells are closely tied to mood and memory. In fact, scents may initiate and affect three-quarters of our emotions. And when it comes to memory, nothing beats the power of scent. Humans are much more likely to remember what we smell than what we see or hear—as much as 35 times more! [SOURCE]
Businesses that invest in scent marketing see an increase in customer dwell time, and staying longer often translates to more purchases. [SOURCE] When you factor in these powerful effects, it’s clear that scent branding is not just a flash in the pan; it’s an investment that pays for itself many times over.
How do you get a clear picture of all this? Evaluating quantitative scent marketing benefits alongside the qualitative benefits will help. You’re likely to discover that not only can your scent marketing efforts lead to more direct sales, but the qualitative benefits to both customers AND your employees can be significant.
Effective Measurement Strategies
Sales and Revenue
One of the simplest ways to measure the effectiveness of a scent marketing campaign is to compare sales data before and after introducing a specific scent in a retail space. Over time, adjusting the saturation and fragrance of the scent and comparing it against sales volumes will allow you to dial in your perfect amount and fragrance.
Customer Feedback and Engagement
Providing customers with a way to give feedback can be extremely insightful. Monitoring customer actions and interactions within your establishment can also be enlightening. Statements like “The store smelled much better than last time!” may not count as hard metrics. Still, they can be powerfully indicative of positive (or negative) change for the customer’s experience.
Customer Traffic
By using foot traffic analysis tools such as people counters or smart sensors, businesses can measure how long customers spend in a store or specific area when a scent is present versus when it is not. Making note of how many customers enter the store, how long they linger, and their resulting purchases can be a strong metric to their overall experience within your establishment. To learn more about the importance of customer dwell time, read our previous blog.
Customer Loyalty
Tracking customer loyalty can help you understand what they think of the brand. As a manager or business owner, you should make note of regulars and elicit feedback from them; they’re a great resource for determining what’s working and what’s not. Once you know what works, you can apply those lessons to enhance customer loyalty across the board. To understand the inherent value of repeat business, check out this article about Customer Lifetime Value.
Employee Morale
Scent marketing has benefits beyond its effects on your customers. It can also help boost your employees’ moods. While more difficult to measure quantitatively, employee morale can make a significant difference in the success or failure of your business. When you’re a customer visiting a business, apathetic or unhelpful employees undercut the business’s desire to bring you back. On the other hand, a positive attitude and terrific customer service make customers more likely to return.
Employee Productivity
Scientific research has confirmed that when our sense of smell is fully activated, our brains are more engaged. Being in this kind of “receptive state” can be beneficial for staff members. In every area of the business, it helps create a more comfortable setting in which employees feel happier and more valued, encouraging them to be more productive.
Learn more about how scent affects employee wellness in our recent blog.
Scent marketing can have a powerful effect on your business. But as with any strategy, it pays to measure how it’s working. Knowing your objectives, capturing KPI, and using both qualitative and quantitative methods will help you better understand how customers perceive their experience with your brand. Those insights—and the adjustments you make as a result—are your ticket to greater brand loyalty and increased sales.