Perceptual Processes in Marketing

The perceptual process begins with receiving stimuli from the environment and ends with our interpretation of those stimuli. Attended stimulus is when we pay attention to one certain specific thing in our environment. Then the stimulus are interpret based on our distinctive needs and experiences.

From Sensation to Perception

Sensation refers to the immediate response of our sensory receptors, (e.g. eyes, mouth, nose, ears and fingers). Whereas Perception refers to the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting stimuli. However, the study of perception only focuses on what has been taken off and added on when assigning a meaning to these sensation.

The controversial advert of Benetton is an example of subjective nature of perception. This is due to the negative criticism it received, the ad was targeted of many complaints about racism. After it showed an African - American man and a white man handcuffed together. Even though they dressed the same. People assumed that the African-American man was arrested by a white man. People’s assumptions tainted the ad’s meaning. This type of assumptions or interpretations is the set of people’s beliefs and feelings also called schemas.

Sensory System

Sensory inputs or external stimuli can be received on a number of channels. Some sensory inputs provoke historic imagery of which previous events occurred are recalled. Whereas fantasy imagery is when an entirely new imaginary experience is the response to sensory data. These responses are vital part of hedonic consumption. Because the data we receive from our sensory systems determine how we responds to products.

Sensory Marketing

What appeals to us is govern by our senses and this happens in many different ways. Marketers use sensory marketing that appeals to all the senses in relation to the brand. In order to relate with customers on an emotional level. Brands can interpret emotional connection in the customers' mind by triggering their senses. Therefore marketers use human senses to activate customers' emotional connection with the brand. 

A Virtual Honeymoon to London and Hawaii #GetTeleported

For example Marriott Hotels’ new Teleporter. The company is using Oculus Rift technology to allow guests to virtually explore holiday destinations, such as Hawaii. Its “4D technology” enables teleported guests to physically feel aspects of the environment they are in, for example, installed heaters can simulate the sun on your face, while a water sprayer can make you feel the sea spray hitting your skin. This an example of Sensory Marketing simultaneously targeting various senses to create a marketing experience for the customer.  

According to the research customers' experience higher level of attachment when they touch the product. Of which consumer researchers are examining the role that haptic sense (touch) plays in consumer behavior. Which is true this certainly apply before purchasing a product. We are surer about what we perceive if we can touch it. However, this is difficult for the tourism industry due to the nature of the

product. With the issue of intangibility where as other product such as mobile phones that you can just touch. Apple customers are allowed to browse around the store and touch the phones on display giving them the freedom to experience the product. Which shows how Apple manipulate sensory marketing to appeal to customer's emotional experience and associate it with their brand.

Reference 

Sensory marketing: the brands appealing to all five senses. (2014). the Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2014/oct/27/sensory-marketing-brands-senses-technology

Boundless. “Introducing the Perception Process.” Boundless Psychology. Boundless, 20 Aug. 2015. Retrieved 13 Mar. 2016 from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/sensation-and-perception-5/introduction-to-perception-39/introducing-the-perception-process-167-12702/

Solomon, M. (1999). Consumer behavior. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.