Your Web Page is Too Quiet
If you are like me, you always have some streaming music either from an internet radio or a favorite playlist when shopping online. If you turn it off for a while you will notice how awfully quiet everything becomes. While retailers have done a decent job to attend to the consumer’s every sense in their physical stores, they have largely left the online domain to the visual dimension only. While technology is not there yet to help with touching, tasting and smelling, hearing is definitely possible, yet ignored by everyone. I can definitely do without some of the annoying overhead messages or background noise heard in the stores, but I would not mind listening to music or have some sort of sound effects while I browse a site. Using some carefully selected music or sounds can add a totally new dimension to the online user experience. A retailer can utilize this to drive brand recognition, improve product visualization and even call to action to drive sales. The trackable user experience and instant feedback from deploying this online can also help the retailer fine tune their sound messaging and improve the customer experience and sales conversion in their physical stores.
A great overview and introduction to deploying sound can be found in this TED speech by Julian Treasure - http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/julian_treasure_the_4_ways_sound_affects_us.html. It is fun, dynamic, educational and only about five minutes long. Mr. Treasure represents the effect of sounds based on the sound properties he refers to as Drivers (Time, Pitch, Texture, Density and Dynamics), the situational influence – Filters (Function, Environment, People and Brand Values) and the effect itself – Outcomes (Physiological, Psychological, Cognitive and Emotional). The proper combination of Drivers and Filters can be used to trigger the desired Outcomes.
Below are a few things that come to mind when implementing the use of sound online:
· Start small with playing sounds/effects on individual items only (ex. Forest sounds on hiking gear) or use compositions to tie whole themes together like Halloween or a Summer apparel collection
· Allow users to voice record their product ratings. This can bring more credibility and life to the review
· Employ a control on the web page which is easy to see, displays what music is being played and is easy to turn on/off
· Link to the music store or CD item being played. If someone likes it, let them easily buy it
· To take things further, an online radio station like Pandora could be deployed where the retailer can create their own “Station” centered on a theme or event. This station can be easily shared with the consumer and placed on sites like Facebook and Twitter
It would be very hard to get something like this right the first time, so proper testing and measuring results will be keys to success:
· Start with allowing only certain users to hear the music/sounds played and measuring the effectiveness. If a company knows more about the online user, it can also measure response in various segments and use to fine tune segment specific messaging
· Some metrics to consider:- Time spent on pages with or without music
- Sales conversion ratio while music is playing
- Size of basket when music/sound is used
- Percent of time music was selectively turned off
- Sales of specific music tracks which are playing
- Above metrics broken down by the set of Drivers and Filters employed
As shown in the video above, sounds invoke deep and complex responses and getting the desired ones while still maintaining the correct branding may be a challenge. However, I feel that with the proper marketing resources, technical backing and the right amount of testing the potential is very exciting!
Please share any experience you have had around this topic or companies you have seen that have successfully implemented this.
