Designing Better Customer Experiences with In-Store Music

With retailers having to compete with internet behemoths like Amazon, getting the customer experiences right has never been more critical. Providing customers with an enjoyable shopping experience means you get to turn a much larger number of visitors into regulars. After all, people aren’t going to shop where they feel unwelcome or taken for granted.

One of the ways to enhance customer experiences is by engaging the sense of sound with overhead background music playing in your location.  However not just any music will do.  it’s also important to think about demographics when choosing your in store music. High school-aged customers obviously have different tastes from their parents and grandparents. Think about your audience. Think about who is visiting your store and what type of music might they like?

And, besides making sure that your in-store music not only fits your brand, you must make sure it’s legal!! Otherwise you may find yourself in hot water in a lawsuit over music copyright infringement when playing background music at your store without the necessary licenses, which can be a costly endeavor for any business. The music police (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC) especially like to target hotels, restaurants, bars, cafe’s and gyms to see if their background music is on the up and up.

Make The Right Music Choices to Engage Customers.

Stop thinking about your store as solely a place of sales. In the ‘Me-Commerce Era,’ stores need to become places of engagement. Creating a great offline shopping experience can be a daunting task, as there are a lot of methods out there, though not all are equal. Numerous studies have shown that when the right in-store background music is properly implemented, it can easily be used as a tool to curate immersive experiences for customers.

Make The Right Music Choices to Influence Customer Experiences.

While a store’s visual appearance is something all store owners understandably focus on, it doesn’t mean they should ignore our other senses, especially the sense of sound and its influence on consumers. How does it influence them? a study published by the Association for Psychological Science found that people are willing to spend more on luxury items when classical music was playing in the background. And the study also revealed how overhead background music influences other behaviors such as brand value, dwell time (time spent in store) and customer satisfaction.

Insert Audio Marketing Messages Targeted to Customers While In-Store.

In addition to creating the perfect playlist for your brand, you should also consider blending highly customized messaging to target shoppers while in your store, putting you in complete control of the experience, directly connecting with customers and guiding their behavior.

Did you know that With 82% of purchasing decisions made while shopping? How about that 16% of unplanned purchases are driven by in-store promotions? (Hello, impulse buys!) With custom overhead marketing messages, you can give customers an extra nudge toward an item — or even several items! — they might not have thought about until they walked into your store.

Final Thoughts…

There is no doubt that creating a better customer experience translates into revenue. And, one of the ways to craft a better customer experience is by engaging the sense of sound with music playing in your location.  At Original On hold, we’re music and branding experts, and have lots of ideas on how music design can drive customer behavior and ensure a seamlessly branded and entertaining customer experience. Give us a call at 800-688-4181 ext 2, and we’d be happy to show you just what we can do for you!