How M.SCENTS scenting can influence the car-buying experience

M.SCENTS scenting, sometimes called scent marketing, is the process of using specific scents to help a business create a sensory experience. For dealerships, this sensory experience can increase dwell time. It may also expand emotional involvement with the brand and even put anxious car buyers at ease.

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Studies have shown that our olfactory senses are powerfully linked to our overall experience. In new research from Scenting and Walnut Unlimited, documented in the white paper the Ultimate Car Showroom Report, experiments showed that scent has an initial impact on our experience within 5 seconds. That eclipses the visual role in experience, which takes seconds longer to establish.  

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When the olfactory sense is engaged in combination with others, it has an extremely powerful effect on brand impression. Scenting’s research indicates that if two senses are triggered, brand impact on the consumer increases by 30%. If three senses are triggered, that more than doubles to an incredible 70%.

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That same research shows that nearly half of consumers – 48% – say that a pleasant smell would encourage them to stay longer in a space. This indicates that a scented dealership experience could help counteract consumers’ pain point of time spent at the dealership. 

Additionally, 69% of consumers in the same study said that a pleasant smell would positively increase their perception of the brand. In other words, leveraging scenting can help increase specific emotional connections with a brand, such as luxury or adventure. 

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Nearly a third of the same respondents said that a pleasant smell would make them more likely to return to a specific showroom. Knowing that younger, car-buying consumers are shopping around at dealerships, using scent to distinguish your brand from others and to increase the likelihood to return could be a very valuable tool.