We all understand that flavour and aroma are two essential aspects of our sensory experience when it comes to food, beverages, and many consumer goods.
Whilst we understand much about the sensory impact of taste, flavour and aroma on our consumers, what is often missed is the psychological impact of these sensory aspects on the consumer experience.
We attempt to improve our product’s flavour by tweaking taste sensations, accentuating aroma and adding textural or temperature changes. Our sensory scientists have an incredible array of technologies at their disposal. Oftentimes, however, they want to find out which elements resonate with the consumer and which tricks and technologies they should, or should not, utilise to create the ideal consumer experience.
All too often, the consumers’ emotional response is distilled to liking or a singular conscious emotional response which doesn’t adequately explain the complexity and array of unconscious emotions that are experienced in a simple cup of coffee, a snack or even the use of a kitchen cleaner.
Connecting sensory and psychological experiences
At The Marketing Clinic we begin with understanding the consumers’ psychological relationship with a product, the unconscious emotions that this elicits, and we identify the ideal sequence of emotions during the consumer interaction and how we can deliver this using the sensory elements that we have at our disposal.
Sometimes turning things upside down, looking at things in a new way brings you the clarity you are seeking. It becomes blindingly obvious that we need to add texture here, improve aroma there when we look at the emotional responses and see where our product is delivering and where it is missing the mark.
Suddenly the technical team understand which parts of the sensory experience need changing or highlighting and which parts do not. Working together in this way means that you create a synergy between the sensory and psychological product experience.
This insight also serves to create synergy between your communications and brand experience. It serves to differentiate your brand from the competition and to ensure that your brand meets all of your consumers’ needs every time they experience your brand.
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Caroline O’Gallagher is a Consumer Psychologist and a Director at The Marketing Clinic:
Providing Clarity on the Psychological relationships between consumers and brands
