The Brainy Business | Understanding the Psychology of Why People Buy | Behavioral Economics

302. Beyond Physical Contact: The Science of Visual and Emotional Touch (Refreshed Episode)

Jul 3, 2023

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In the context of business, the sense of touch plays a crucial role in building emotional connections with consumers and driving their purchasing behavior. Understanding and harnessing the power of touch can significantly improve the perceived quality of products and services, strengthening the brand image and fostering customer loyalty. By integrating touch into marketing and branding efforts, entrepreneurs can create a multisensory experience that has a lasting impact on their target audience.

Melina Palmer emphasizes the importance of touch in business, discussing how it is directly connected to emotional language and can influence both our perceptions and actions. Throughout the podcast, she explores the science behind touch and how it can be strategically employed by businesses to engage consumers on a deeper level. Melina highlights the need for businesses to consider the various ways they can incorporate touch, ensuring it is utilized effectively and appropriately to deliver the desired effect. In this episode, you’ll:

Discover the secrets behind utilizing touch in business for better connections and results.
Learn why investing in thoughtful materials that align with your message boosts your brand image and customer satisfaction.
Uncover the powerful connection between emotional and visual touch in material choices.
Explore innovative ways to incorporate touch into service-based and virtual businesses.
Get a sneak peek at Friday’s enlightening interview on the art of data visualization.

Show Notes:

00:00:00 - Introduction, Melina welcomes listeners to a special episode on the sense of touch, which celebrates the five-year anniversary of The Brainy Business podcast. She talks about the importance of touch in our lives and how it is directly linked to emotional language. Melina also thanks listeners for their support and explains the purpose of the episode.
00:04:44 - How Touch Works, Melina explains that the skin has many nerve endings, and they all have different jobs of being receptive to temperature, pressure, or pain. She also discusses the concept of relativity and how it impacts our sense of touch. Melina compares the subconscious brain to a small child and how emotional touch and sensation are closely linked.
00:09:06 - Touch and Teamwork, Melina discusses the importance of human contact, especially touch, on our development throughout our lives. She explains how touch impacts the overall effectiveness of teams and cites a study from UC Berkeley that found NBA teams who engaged in more celebratory touch won more games and played better together.
00:14:22 - The Power of Touch in Business, Melina talks about the impact of touch in business, including the endowment effect, perceived ownership, and loss aversion. She explains how touch triggers these concepts and increases the value of products. Melina also discusses how touch impacts customer experience and how businesses can use it to their advantage.
00:19:34 - Touch Without Touch, Melina talks about the power of touch without touch, which is how even service-based businesses and those entirely online can leverage the sense of touch. Hint: your eyes are amazing!
00:16:32 - Incorporating Touch Appropriately, HR departments should be consulted to ensure touch is incorporated appropriately. Touch is a powerful tool for creating impressions, so it's important to be mindful of the message being conveyed through touch.
00:17:37 - The Power of Texture in Print, Texture plays a crucial role in creating a favorable impression in print materials. The texture of paper can say a lot about a business, and investing in high-quality materials can reflect positively on the brand.
00:20:14 - The Importance of Touch in Sales, Touch is a crucial element in sales, as it increases the sense of ownership that a person feels over an item. Even online sales can benefit from the power of touch, as images and descriptions can trigger perceived ownership and lead to buying.
00:23:11 - The Impact of Touch in Personal Interactions, Touch plays a significant role in personal interactions. Service businesses should consider how they interact with clients and what impression they are leaving, as touch is one of the key senses that people use to interpret others.
00:31:40 - How Touch Influences Perception, Touch influences perception, and people tend to associate touch terms with the way they interpret brands and people. It's important to consider the impression being left on others in interactions and what it means in touch terms.
00:34:04 - The Value of Touch and Concrete Concepts, Melina discusses the importance of touch and how it can make something feel real even when it's just words or an idea. She highlights the value of metaphors and concrete concepts in making ideas more relatable and actionable. This sets the foundation for the upcoming conversation with data artist Sarah K. Miller.
00:35:16 - Celebrating Five Years of The Brainy Business, Melina announces the upcoming five-year anniversary episode with data artist Sarah K. Miller. She encourages listeners to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review to help spread the word about making business more brain-friendly. She also highlights her book, What Your Customer Wants and Can't Tell You, which features the sense of touch in the priming chapter.
00:36:27 - Building Your Knowledge on the Sense of Touch, Melina encourages listeners to dig deeper into the sense of touch by exploring related past episodes, books, and articles. She emphasizes the importance of applying the senses in business and how they can help to drive action.
00:37:13 - Conclusion, Melina’s top insights from the conversation. What stuck with you while listening to the episode? What are you going to try? Come share it with Melina on social media -- you'll find her as @thebrainybiz everywhere and as Melina Palmer on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.

I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation.

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Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode:

Evolutionary Ideas, by Sam Tatam
What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You, by Melina Palmer
Marketing to Mindstates, by Will Leach
Alchemy, by Rory Sutherland
Magic Words, by Jonah Berger

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