Of our five senses, smell is one that can have a profound effect. Fresh-baked goods can send us back to our childhood, watching our parents cook and practically tasting them with such a powerful smell. Scents can soothe us and help us fall asleep, which is why lotions and fragrant candles are found in practically every home. And an overpowering or unsavory scent can cause us to gag, covering our noses and seeking fresh air to escape putrid smells.
Scents are so powerful that researchers have even found that they can alter how we spend money. Scientific evidence has found customers are 100 percent likely to remember a smell, and 59 percent of people will spend more in a place that has a pleasing smell. Research has found shoppers will spend 54 percent more in stores with scent marketing, which also works to develop brand loyalty.
Even when you aren’t shopping, scents may be used to create relaxing and soothing environments for guests and patients in airports, hotels, spas and even hospitals. Let’s take a look at exactly how businesses are using scent marketing to attract customers.
Caesar’s Palace Casino
Type of business: Casino
Year founded: 1966
Headquartered: Paradise, Nevada
How Caesar’s Palace Casino uses scents: Vegas casinos are notoriously smoke-filled spaces, so these businesses needed to make their spaces less pungent, especially for the nonsmoking clientele.
Adding refreshing scents to mask the foul aroma, casino managers found gamblers stayed longer. A 1995 study conducted by the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation confirmed it: When a casino has a nice smell, visitors gamble 45 percent more.
Next time you walk into Caesar’s Palace, see if you can sniff its signature combination of roses, citrus and forest.