Voice marketing: more powerful than we think
What is the “intangible proposition” of a brand? What makes one in-store experience pleasant and another painful? For years, we’ve been working to conveniently align service point locations to respond to what marketers call the “re-enchantment of consumption.” The goal of these new approaches? It’s simple: charm. So, at the heart of this fascinating company, we “call for the stimulation of the five senses to rethink the sensual concept of the point of sale. [et de] give it a personality [de] making it beautiful and attractive [dans le but] increase customer satisfaction. But are all senses used strategically during these seduction operations? According to several marketing experts, we have to admit that hearing is in some ways the “weak link” of sensory marketing. However, a good sound strategy can have a positive impact on experience and sales. Let’s see how and why.
Is thinking about feelings a good idea?
“Yes” immediately answers the professor of the marketing departmentI can hear, Caroline Lacroix. “What we know from research on emotional marketing is that this approach has a significant impact on consumer perceptions, habits and brand loyalty. This is one aspect that strongly contributes to energy enhancement.brand love“.” Reemphasizing the importance of stimulating the senses during shopping, the professor explains that the power of sensation is to influence memory: “From the beginning, it has an effect on emotions. No one is indifferent to a good smell or a warm, well-organized place. Who says emotion, says memorization. The influence of feelings is extremely powerful, and research shows this very well: there are rarely times when our feelings do not influence our judgments and perceptions. In this regard, we can also refer to a broader definition of sensory marketing to better understand its impact on consumers. According to a well-known marketing expert Aradhna Krishna, sensory marketing can be defined as “marketing that appeals to consumers’ senses and influences their perception, judgment and behavior”. Voice marketing is no stranger to these effects. Let’s see what science thinks about it.
Atmosphere: a powerful presence
Mood and atmosphere have more power over people than we think. It has been proven that when a person enters an unfamiliar store or encounters an unfamiliar product for the first time, their brain will infer from the environment to decipher where it is. Thus, a person will evaluate both the quality of the product in question and the reputation of the store by referring to the external factors of his environment – in other words, the intangible proposition. In this regard, background music would be the first reference we stick to. Although this research is somewhat outdated, a 1993 study by Richard F. Yalch and Eric Spangenberg revealed surprising results about the influence of music, showing that people tend to perceive a store where they hear a variety of music as “downscale.” On the contrary, the two researchers were able to demonstrate a clear relationship between the increase in more expensive expenses and classical music.
In general, music has a positive effect on customers because it provides pleasure and enhances emotions. This is suggested by British researchers who observed the relationship between shopping behavior and music. When used as a cognitive cue, music helps the brain process and understand information, which helps it make decisions. From here, we observe that brands with a recognizable voice personality see a “5% increase in perceived value and a similar increase in purchase intent.”
No wonder. For the teacher Caroline Lacroix, “feelings have the power to imprint an experience on our memory. They create emotional responses that directly affect our desire to relive the experience or own the product. So atmosphere is important, but voice personality is just as important. Brands have already understood the effectiveness of audio cues and have been working for years to associate their logos with sound: Nintendohour netflixhour apple or disneythese companies coexist in our memories both visually and aurally.
voice personality
As we can see, more and more brands are investing in creating healthy personalities, and this growth is due to the increasing popularity of streaming platforms, podcasts and home assistants. Google Home Where Alexa. Indeed, there is a reported 22% increase in the number of brands enabling voice recognition in 2021. American Express, Frito Lay, Singapore Airlines, Betway, General Mills and Walmart. So how do you develop this strategy?
if we rely on the experience of Ravi SidhuDirector of Sales for Canada’s largest background music provider, Stingray Advertising, it is clear that developing a healthy identity improves sales performance: “Participation is fairly direct in-store because voice stimuli are directed directly at customers at the point of purchase. The branch is the most important place to sell: our research and the research we trust show that people take specific actions when they hear an ad or promotion from the store they are in.” But be careful: the line between a pushy message and a well-received promotion is thin, we advise Ravi Sidhu. And here is the whole experience Stingray, that is, knowing how to achieve the necessary speed to create an enriched in-store shopping experience. Everything is carefully thought out by experts: “For the music, for example, we have sound engineers who provide us with ambient soundtracks that change throughout the day to respect the evolution of the music. mood consumers.” But that’s not the only thing to consider, adds the sales manager: “We’re growing replica sounds to attract people’s attention when an advertising message is presented. All this is thought together with the retailer to create a sense of recognition, an auditory imprint in people’s memory. We see it working in the field: people tend to listen to messages and buy the advertised product. replica.”
Know how to receive
In general, personalized voices, atmospheres, and design of advertising messages are strategies favored by companies. Stingray can build Stating that a brand’s healthy identity contributes greatly to its value, Ravi Sidhu invites companies to develop this type of marketing: “We see a positive effect when customers are familiar with the retailer’s voice or music. It’s kind of what signals a brand’s voice personality. It’s clear that this plays a big role in the incentive to buy, and that’s why we’re developing increasingly innovative strategies to create a sense of connection, belonging and loyalty to brands.” Professor in turn Caroline Lacroix reminds us that the in-store experience can be compared to a friendly reception: “Emotional marketing is really based on the human experience. It is a very humane approach. And to successfully develop this strategy, you need to put yourself in the place of the guest you receive at home. Let’s think: cleaning will be done, we risk putting on background music, cooked food is in the oven… All this helps to make dinner with friends delicious. “Being warm is a feel-good strategy.”
Ravi Sidhu, Sales Director, Stingray Advertising / Photo credit: Frédérique Ménard-Aubin
Caroline Lacroix, Professor, Department of Marketing, UQÀM / Credit: ESG UQÀM
