Use Sound Effects to Sell

This week’s U.S. Time magazine includes a feature article about marketers and retailers using the right sound effects. The article is based on research findings from brand marketing consultant Martin Lindstrom. Although the major theme of the article is advertising, there’s also mention of a department store in Japan—named 0101—customizing different patterns of sounds for sportswear, perfume, and formal-wear areas.
     Customers are accustomed to hearing the sound of music while shopping. Substituting sound effects like children at play, birdsongs, lapping water, and a sound Lindstrom says is most powerful of all—babies’ giggles—can arouse emotions in shoppers, although not always pleasant ones.
     Here are tips on using sound effects to create shopping environments that sell products and services:

• Have sounds fit the other sensations in that store’s department. Lindstrom presents evidence regarding sounds—as he’s previously done regarding fragrances—that when the shopper’s senses are delivering incongruent messages, it gets bothersome. Think about the personality you want to project not just for the product category, but also for the whole store and for the business itself. Then select sounds which fit.
• Keep sounds gentle. Loud cutting-edge music tells consumers you are trendy. Fast-paced music speeds up the shopper. But with sound effects, the loud and the fast can chase off even people who crave excitement. In addition, if you’re aiming to create different sound atmospheres in different parts of your store, you’ll want to keep the sound effects soft enough to avoid overlaps.
• Use variety. Unless your target audience consists exclusively of ice cream truck drivers, assume that your shoppers will want to avoid repeated sound tracks. They’ll also want intervals in which all they hear are the sounds of shopping. In fact, excited shoppers can produce the best selling sound effects of all.