Guidelines from scientific research

Touch and taste often coincide, but smell can also add a dimension to the sense of touch. Make sure that the scent in your store matches the experience of touching the products (e.g., the scent and the material are congruent), so that the product that is touched by the customer is evaluated more positively. For instance, a “manly” scent may be diffused in a rough and rugged interior to enforce the masculine experience.

Also in online shopping, it is important to pay attention to the customers’ needs for multi-sensorial perceptions. Try to complement useful information with sufficient visual elements. Make use of the need for tactile information by carefully describing aspects such as softness, contact temperature, etc. 

Multi-sensorial online product descriptions can become extremely important in times of strong competition, where products often cannot be differentiated using their basic characteristics alone.