FLAVORIZE! the Experience to Earn Conversation

As long as there has been form, there has been function: A business flavor-killer. The desire for efficiency has created sensory-numbing consumer experiences, leaving customers nothing extraordinary to talk about. It's time to FLAVORIZE! your business.

Photo Credit: Micky

People only notice things that are out of the ordinary. To get customers to notice you and talk about you, you must jar the senses. Deliver out of the ordinary experiences by adding some relative sensory oddity. We human beings have five senses: we see, hear, touch, taste and smell. In their book Conversational Capital: How to Create Stuff People Love to Talk About, authors Cesvet, Babinski, and Alper introduce the concept of relative sensory oddity (RSO) saying that "if a consumer experience can appeal to our complete faculties, it becomes all the more impactful and potentially meaningful."

Two things are needed for RSO: relativity, and oddity. The sensory experience you deliver must be relative to your brand, and at the same time it must startle the senses. For example: Playing some heavy metal music at a day spa would be startling, but it wouldn't be brand relevant. What would be? Let me share a business flavorization story with you, by engaging your sense of hearing. Listen to this story of relative sensory oddity:

(if you don't see the audio player click hear to listen: Flavorize Your Business

Jarring The Senses

Think of your customer's experience as a sensory experience and not a shopping excursion. To flavorize your business, start with the primary sense your business already appeals to; most likely sight. Now ask how you might be able to jar your customer's senses. Can you display different shapes, can you add different colors? How can you shake up some eyeballs?

Next bring in a second sense. One that customers wouldn't expect from you. IKEA is a great example. Shopping IKEA is a long, winding, visual sensory overload, until you get to the middle of the store and find their...cafe. There you will find a menu of inexpensive meals, including Swedish coffee and yes: Swedish meatballs (relevancy).

Flavorize the Experience

THE BIG IDEA: Be out of the ordinary by appealing to the senses unexpectedly. When you do, people will talk about the experience.

Touch: Add different textures to your showroom. Let customers become physically involved with your product

Visual: Add unexpected shapes and colors to the experience.

Hearing: Play music or other appropriate sounds.

Smell: Add flowers for both color and the scent

Taste: Serve a small food item such as cookies or chocolate.

What sensory flavor can you add to your business? How have you startled the senses of your customers?

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