The sensory nature of printed products: How you can achieve unique effects with print marketing
Whether through Google ads, social media posts or e-newsletters, online advertising is now an essential part of professional marketing – and yet printed products will never be replaced completely. After all, the human mind loves sensory experiences, such as a velvety-soft feel, agreeably rough structures or elements that can be opened out and explored. Find out how influential paper actually is.
Do you remember when, full of anticipation, you last unwrapped a new, never-before-tasted type of chocolate from its silver paper? And do you also remember standing in front of the sweet shelf and deciding to put this new bar in your basket? Your choice was probably based on the packaging – after all, you cannot simply have a taste in the supermarket.
Sophisticated packaging leads us into temptation
The more refined the pretty wrapper, the more easily customers are seduced into making a purchase – if the overall packaging is right, at any rate. A study by packaging producer STI Group has shown that consumers are on average willing to pay some 50% more for products with sophisticated, intelligently designed packaging. The design of the paper appeals to a consumer’s sense of sight, as well as their sense of touch – they are tempted to pick up the product and run their fingers over any embossing or a particularly smooth wrapper. This knowledge of purchase-stimulating effects is integrated into FLYERALARM’s product portfolio to enable you to score points optimally with your customers – with high-quality hot-foil finishes on gift packaging, for instance.
Multi-sensory marketing is the key phrase that has long been on everybody’s lips. It is based on the scientific finding that every extra sense that is appealed to increases brain activity many times over – with the sense of touch providing a crucial boost in effectiveness. We remember things better if we have not merely seen or heard of them but can also feel them. Accordingly, a cross-media strategy involving a skilfully constructed combination of digital and print elements is recommended in marketing.
Rough paper stimulates a willingness to spend
The feel of a surface is so crucial that it may even affect a person’s willingness to spend. A scientific study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology has shown that a rough structure can lead to heightened empathetic reactions: passers-by were given a clipboard featuring a charity’s appeal for donations. The back of the clipboard consisted of either soft film or rough sandpaper. While only 3% of the passers-by who received a clipboard with soft film made a donation, 26% of the others did. In this context, the rough surface of the paper prompted sympathy for people in need.
However, Prof. Andreas Mann, holder of the chair for dialogue marketing at the University of Kassel, has discovered that it is not only the nature of the surface but also the grammage of the paper that makes a difference: the heavier and more structured a mailshot’s paper is, the higher the level of quality attributed to it by recipients, and this positive impression is also transferred to the contents.
Soft touch makes us dig deeper into our pockets
A soft-touch surface also increases the willingness of customers to invest more money than they would in the same product without a soft-touch surface. Carry out a practical test: What do velvety surfaces feel like? What associations are aroused when you stroke a soft surface with your fingertips? Soft-touch finishes tempt us to touch products and so to engage with them. Our tip: use soft-feel elements for your special printed products. For instance, how about a soft-touch finish on your business cards? Your customers are guaranteed not to put them down so quickly.
The power of the unconscious in advertising
But why are effects that target our senses – particularly our sense of touch – so decisive? In our brain, numerous processes take place without us consciously noticing them. A large part of our decision-making also happens unconsciously – for example, through our brain automatically assessing and evaluating sensory impressions. The consequence of this is that we automatically rate things more positively if they feel better and also engage with them for longer than usual.
It is this interaction over time that brings about an important difference, as it arouses our possessive mentality. Just a brief touch lasting a few seconds triggers a sense of possession in us. Olaf Hartmann and Sebastian Haupt – specialists in marketing psychology – term this the endowment effect. Everything that we own immediately appears more valuable to us than something that does not belong to us.
Impress your customers semi-automatically
The impressive results of numerous studies show how crucial the quality of the paper is on which you advertise. If you wish to communicate something to customers that you are passionate about, it is worth investing time and choosing a product that suits your occasion and brand perfectly and that prompts the exact effect that you are looking for.
To enable you to make the right decision, FLYERALARM provides sample books that offer you the opportunity not only to examine the different papers closely but also to touch them and feel their quality – whether you are looking for note paper, business cards, flyers or posters. Don’t leave your customers’ haptic experiences to chance; provide them with sensory experiences that make a strong impression. After all, the small child in each of us takes pleasure in shiny, rustling chocolate wrappers – and the big kid loves a sophisticated mailshot that can be opened up and discovered.
