Ultimately, the decisions customers make determine a retailer’s success. By designing stores around key neuroaesthetic principles, retailers can enhance the experience of the store and increase their bottom line.
Neuroaesthetics is the science of how thoughtful design and art affect one’s brain and nervous system. When I apply neuroaesthetic principles to my interior design projects, the main questions I ask my clients are “what do you want to do in this room?”. We then work backwards in shaping how they need to think and feel in order to encourage them to carry out that action. Applying this same concept to a retail environment, we can focus on four main steps in the process of attracting the customer to making the purchase:
Attract people to the store by the exterior environment.
Invite them into the store by the interiors and the presence of people.
Encourage them to linger longer - added dwell time increases probability of purchases.
Promote the purchase - this is where the dopamine comes into play.
Pauline Brown explains in her book, “Aesthetic Intelligence”, that 85% of purchasing decisions are driven by feeling, not thinking. She also emphasizes how important aesthetics are in business. When shoppers are happy and have visual pleasure inside the store, they are better customers for retailers.
HIGHLIGHTS OF NEUROAESTHETICS
From a scientific perspective, Anjan Chatterjee talks about the impact of beauty on our mind in his book “The Aesthetic Brain”. Don Ruggles also describes the impact of beauty on our nervous systems in his book “Beauty, Neuroscience and Architecture”. These authors and others have proven that beautiful people, places, and things give us pleasure by regulating our nervous system. A beautiful person, place, or things also gives our brain a perceived sense of approval. Beauty equals attraction, while “ugly” makes us repel.
Beauty is associated with the parasympathetic mode of our nervous system, makes us feel calm and relieves stress. It gives us a sense of well-being and pleasure with hormones like endorphins, serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. These feel good hormones are released into your blood stream, and the result of that is a feeling of pleasure, love, happiness, and peace.
The other side of the nervous system is the sympathetic mode. It sympathizes sympathized with you that you’re in a situation that doesn’t feel good. It puts you in survival mode, activates your amygdala and motor cortex to literally run away. These are all split-second reflexes that are subconsciously activated based on our surroundings.
We know that the goal in retail is to encourage people to not only come into the store, but stay there. The happier they are in that space, the more likely they will make the purchase. This is where the dopamine comes in. When we talk about dopamine, oftentimes bright colors are the topic of conversation. Certain colors do induce a feeling of happiness, but it’s the whole message of the space that leads the person to feel a certain way in that environment. The way the colors interact with each other and the elements in the room.
Beauty is in the mind of the beholder, literally in our Default Mode Network. This sense-of-self area in our brain holds what we know to be true. Our likes and dislikes, what is important to us, and the memories we hold dear. Colors play a key role in our millisecond reaction to visual cues. There are other ways retailers can induce dopamine responses in their stores. Curiosity, mystery, and what we call at Elan Design, pleasing the senses, will provide the perception of “reward” to your customers. The reward is what releases the dopamine.
BIOPHILIC DESIGN
According to the findings of Terrapin Bright Green in their comprehensive report, “The Economics of Biophilia, second edition”, a retailing environment has the potential to increase revenue per item by 15%–25% if biophilic elements are incorporated into the space. Assuming a modest increase of one additional person per hour to store traffic after a biophilic redesign, that store could theoretically anticipate an increase of $43,100 in revenue per year.
As these authors, and others have also described, humans inherently find beauty - and familiarity - in composed nature. For many years, beauty meant reward. Biophilia, one of neuroaesthetics main principles, is the love of nature. Since people are drawn to nature, it is a catalyst in promoting connection with other people, as well as having a connection to ourselves.
Having a presence of three different biophilic features: plants, water features, and natural light, revealed significantly higher levels of pleasure and enjoyment in a space. There was a higher perceived quality of the brand and a greater willingness to spend more time and money in biophilic spaces.
Biophilic design—with its capacity to reduce stress and to enhance perceptions of immersion, restoration and pleasure—has been shown to be particularly effective at imparting a positive and memorable experience to customers. - Terrapin Bright Green
Nature in the space doesn’t just increase sales, it also has a direct effect on staff retention and performance. In a study of simulated service settings, the addition of just one potted plant was associated with significantly higher ratings of perceived service quality, service satisfaction, and pleasure.
Exterior design elements first need to attract attention to entice customers to enter the store. More street trees, for example, can increase willingness to pay, while an aquarium in a shop window can lead more customers to enter the store.
Don Ruggles and Ann Sussman both talk about a human’s instinct to look for faces. A gathering of people means “good”. To illustrate the point, how likely are you to eat at an empty restaurant? It is in our DNA to instinctually gravitate towards a gathering of people going back millennia to our ancient brains. Literally our first instinct when we are born is to look for a face. I talk more about this in my article Neuroaesthetics in Interior Design - Psychology of Beauty.
Curiosity is a great friend when we want to promote something. Jason Feifer, Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, reported a jewelry store received 3 millions views of a video showing the co-owner’s mom posing as a customer that attracted real customers. The excitement she showed was infectious, and soon she would attract customers who perceived the product as something they should also purchase.
We did a little science project with a friend of ours who is launching a new lifestyle company, Acqua Pura. My daughter and I supported her pop-up booth at a local festival. When we arrived at the booth, there were plenty of other people there, looking at the beautiful display of products. As the day went on, friends and family had all come and gone, and we were walking by after having lunch in Georgetown. The event was winding down and booths were packing up. Our friend, Georgia, remained open until the very end, yet no one was shopping. When my daughter and I went back to the booth, I held two different products in my hand. Making a fuss, trying things on, other people started coming back over and ultimately purchased both items we were holding.
Retailers that lean into the relationships they forge with their customers will recognize an increase in their engagement with the products. It is very important that customers are met with a warm welcome as they enter the store. Communicate the message that you’re happy to see them, come in, we have what you’re looking for, and you’re going to be happy here.
The human experience is in large part dictated by our surrounding environment. Humans rely on the environment to help meet a hierarchy of needs, ranging from basic needs such as shelter and sunlight to nuanced physiological and psychological needs such as social interaction, a sense of security, mental restoration, biological homeostasis, visual acuity, and curiosity. –Terrapin Bright Green
DOPAMINE IN NEUROAESTHETICS
The perception of pleasure while shopping is directly tied to purchasing decisions and retail environments that are able to trigger the release of dopamine.
The release of dopamine, one of the strongest neurochemicals in the human brain, happens when our mind perceives receiving a reward. So think about when you are looking for something specific. As you go up and down the aisle, you’re on a mission. Now take notice of the feeling you have when you find it. The brain registers a sense of reward, and that little rush of pleasure is a dopamine release.
The Grand Bazaar is a great example of a retail space that induces perceptions of curiosity and mystery.
The first time my husband and I met our Turkish Carpet supplier (we like to source from the source), he took us to his remote warehouse that was outside the Bazaar. We walked through the winding alleyways of the Bazaar with recurring instances of compression and release, listening to the imam chanting in the background, smelling the delicious kabobs. Every turn was met with variations of light and shadow, beautiful colors and patterns of tile. To say it was exciting was an understatement.
As we walked with our guy outside the confines of the market, we traveled through the streets, down an alley, then into a hotel. The mystery activated. Why are we walking into a hotel? Through the lobby to a back staircase that opened up to a dark hallway, I admit it made me think twice. But then, Hasim opened the door to his warehouse, and all I could say was “WOW!” The mystery was met with reward, and we ended up sourcing 5 carpets that morning.
Hasim treated us to lunch back in his store at the Bazaar afterwards. Needless to say, we learned all about his store and the Grand Bazaar. The experience has led us to be repeat customers whenever we are looking for an authentic Turkish Carpet for our projects.
The continued interest and connection to this type of public market over hundreds of years is a testament to basic principles of neuroaesthetic and biophilic design. The successful ones allow for complexity and order, dynamic lighting , winding corridors that elicit perceptions of mystery and exploration. Every vendor welcomes you with Turkish tea and an authentic connection to the store's history. Altogether, these characteristics provide customers with feelings of reward, connection, and joy.
Enriched Environments Promote Salient Experiences
Environmental enrichment refers to stimulating the brain through physical and social surroundings. As mentioned earlier, at Elan Design, we like to call this pleasing the senses.
In 1973, American economist and marketing expert Philip Kotler first identified the use of what he called “atmospherics” as a marketing device . These are the controllable characteristics of a retail space that entice customers to enter the store, shop, and increase purchase probability. Aspects such as lighting, ambient sound, merchandise layout, and other features are all components of atmospherics.
Our brains are very good at filtering the sensory stimuli we receive. It focuses our attention on what it believes to be important. The more stimulation, the more salient the experience can be. Why? Because it activates different parts of the brain at one time. So all of a sudden there is a symphony of synapses that are creating an impactful - salient - experience. When our brains are enjoying this heightened, synchronized activation of different areas, that induces a release of neurotransmitters like dopamine.
So it’s not only about what people see, it’s a fragrance, coordinating music, the perception of fresh air flowing through space. The light is carrying them around the room, highlighting what they should pay attention to. The space itself is formulated to interact with the customer, giving them a pleasant feeling to linger longer and relax.
IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES
Just as the work of interior designers cannot be fully realized until the room is complete, the same holds for brick and mortar in setting the stage for patrons to create an experience for them to enjoy. Attracting customers to the store and its products is only the first piece of the puzzle. The ultimate goal is to communicate the value of the products to potential buyers.
A secondary reason a person chooses to shop is to escape everyday stressors, enjoy new settings, and experience something exciting. As retailers differentiate themselves by providing enhanced customer experiences, the degrees to which shoppers feel immersed, mentally and physically, and rejuvenated are likely to increase the perceived value of the product, the brand, and the customer’s willingness to spend.
Familiarity plays an important role in neuroaesthetics. Dr. Rebecca Tapia, a neurologist in Texas told me that our brains are essentially lazy. When we are familiar with something we are more likely to accept it. In this regard, we’re recognizing a shift in retail spaces to mimic that of a home. Fashion houses set up their ateliers with living rooms, or replicates of an impressive closet. To transport the person into that state of already having that item as though they were getting dressed for the evening at home.
Ralph Lauren is a great example of a retail showroom that can transport you to any location around the globe. Simply in the way the room is designed, you can instantaneously walk into a highrise apartment in Manhattan then right into a lake house in Colorado. Each product tells a collective story about where you are and inspires you to live your best life in that location.
THE IMPACT OF ARTWORK IN RETAIL SPACES
The limbic system of our brain controls our instincts, and survival and reward lie at the core of our beings. Scientists have found that the emotion of beauty neutralizes a high stress sympathetic reaction. The psychology of beauty in our surroundings has proven that what was once believed to be a luxury is now known to be a necessity.
When we consider our evolution as humans, the impact of art and culture on our beings is not to be underestimated. In Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross’s book, “Your Brain On Art”, they describe art as a "major conduit for greater saliency" because of art’s way of being able to rewire synapses in our brain. Different lobes are firing off at the same time, essentially connecting the circuitry. The presence of artwork in a room has been proven to promote a more salient experience of that space. As we mentioned earlier, the more salient (impactful) the experience, the more that environment induces a release of neurotransmitters like dopamine.
As an artist AND interior designer, the conversation among the interiors and the artwork is almost audible in the room and can completely solidify a room’s energy. Having an energy, frequency, and vibration in and of itself, art in all forms greatly influences the “feeling” of a space. I speak more about artwork and beauty in my work. The articles, Neuroaesthetics - The Psychology of Beauty and The Importance of Decorating with Original Artwork will describe the importance of your artwork’s message in your retail space.
We believe in the power of neuroaesthetics, nature, people, and art to help create spaces and places that comfort, rejuvenate, and inspire. The financial benefit of offering customers an experience has scientific evidence to increase returns on the investment. Creating environments through engagement with customers, thoughtful decisions, and art evoke feelings of joy, motivation, familiarity, and reward, that will ultimately provide retailers with increased sales and brand loyalty.
The effect of neuroaesthetics in retail spaces provide us with a powerful and positive force in our lives that can help rebalance the equation of where we shop and what we buy.