A smell can suddenly take you back to a moment in the past. For example, the smell of a particular cookie reminds some people of their grandmother. Sitting at the table with a cup of tea. However, you can use this strong connection between smell and memories for your organization as well. And profit handsomely from it! How? Find out in this blog.
How is it possible that smell and memories are so strongly connected?
This is because smell is the only sense that is closely connected to the limbic system. This is the part of our brain involved in emotion, motivation, pleasure and our emotional memory. So when you smell something, it works its way into deeper layers. This in turn ensures that smell stays in our memory longer!
Smell versus images: what do you remember the longest?
Looking at how our brain works, we can therefore say that the connection between smell and memories is strong. But what about images? Do they stick in our memory even better? Or are they inferior to the haunting power of smell? In Zucco's (2003) study, 36 subjects were shown 15 images. A few minutes later, these subjects were shown 45 images. Among these 45 images were also the 15 images they had viewed before. It was up to them to pick them out. The result? On average, the subjects recognized 9 out of 10 images. Not bad!
Exactly the same experiment was done with smells instead of images. The result of this? On average, subjects recognized 7 out of 10 scents. This sounds disappointing, but nothing could be further from the truth! Remember when the limbic system goes to work on this? Because once a smell is stored in your long-term memory, you can remember it for an exceptionally long time. In this experiment, that meant that over time there was a minimal reduction in recognizing smells. After months, but even after years! After this time, the subjects could still recognize an average of 7 out of 10 odors. For the images, recognition dropped by half after only 4 months. In short, we have a winner!
What can you do with this in practice?
It is, in fact, difficult to spread scent in online ads. Fortunately, these days we can get creative with advertising. Think for example of using scent in your packaging. Regardless of whether a consumer eventually buys it, at least he remembers you longer! Did you know that Madonna already did this in 1989 with the packaging of her album 'Like a Prayer'? After all, the cover smelled like incense! Or do it bigger and make one or more rooms in your organization smell good. This will immediately reach (almost) all your visitors. In short, be creative and put those noses to work!