Use Music to Motivate, Not Disrupt

A mystery inspired Rebecca Logan at the Fayetteville Observer newspaper in North Carolina to do an article about noticing music while shopping. The mystery began with people telling Ms. Logan they’d lately enjoyed the music at their local Food Lion grocery store. What had changed?, she wondered. Food Lion told Ms. Logan the store had been using Muzak’s FM1 channel for some time, and the Muzak spokeswoman said there’d been only minor changes in the FM1 mix recently.      The answer to the mystery may reside in initiatives like the Music Genome Project from Pandora. It claims that the effects of a piece of music are determined by the standing on about 400 attributes, ranging from rhythm and instrumentation to the themes of any lyrics.

• Research by psychologists at University of Melbourne shows the value of using styles of music that reinforce the personality you want your store to project. This should be a personality that fits how your target customers want to see themselves. A fundamental choice in store personality is between exciting and sincere, and different music styles will project one or the other.
• If you want the shopper to carefully analyze the purchase decision, either do not have music or use music that is barely noticeable. Researchers at Columbia University and Northwestern University find that when a customer listens to the music in the store, their attention is taken away from analyzing the purchase decision. If you’re wanting the customers to try new brands or new products, eliminate intrusive music.
• Based on those same research findings, use noticeable music—such as music with lyrics—if you both expect and want the shopper to select items from habit without much thought. Noticeable music helps head off arguments the shopper might make to themselves about the purchase.