Doctor Offices and Pharmacies
Applying aesthetic intelligence in healthcare services or products and eliciting the right emotional cues for the consumers; that takes a great deal of empathy. We have to remember that people use their senses to understand the world around them; they are also are emotional and make decisions largely based upon how that product or service makes them feel.
In the following article, we’ll see what Aesthetics and Aesthetic Intelligence are, but also how they affect the healthcare section, especially doctor offices and pharmacies.
Aesthetic intelligence
Aesthetics
In general, Aesthetics is the pleasure that we derive from perceiving an object or experience through our senses; several psychological perspectives consider aesthetic experience as a rewarding process and suggest a link between aesthetic experience and pleasure. Aesthetic experiences are offered by multiple contexts. Recent studies suggest the aesthetics can promote health and psychological well-being; assist in decision making, but also; offer a therapeutic tool for many, e.g., adolescents, elderly and vulnerable individuals.
Aesthetics and Emotions
Aesthetic perception and judgement are not merely cognitive processes, but also involve emotions. How does beauty feel?
In specific, an emotion is defined as a state of psychological arousal with cognitive aspects that depend from the specific context. Emotions accompany and inform our experiences. So, aesthetic emotions are the emotions that arise when a person perceives and evaluates a stimulus for its aesthetic appeal or virtues.
Humans are driven by feelings. Emotions are also what really drives the purchasing behaviors, but also decision making in general. In detail, the purchase decisions of customers are driven by two kinds of needs; functional needs satisfied by service/product functions and emotional needs associated with the psychological aspects of service provision or product ownership. According to Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman, 95% of our purchase decision making takes place in the subconscious mind. Also 50% of customer perceived value of a particular service or product is connected to the memory of using it and the anticipation of re-using it. The rest 50% is connected to the actual experience. Therefore it is important to invest to entire emotional experiences, before, during and after.
So, the emotion becomes more important with the emergence of the principle of the consumer pleasure; the consumer looks for a service/product that becomes a center of symbolic meanings, psychological and cultural, a source of feelings and relationships.
Nowadays, services or products from different sources/ providers seem equal; thus, it is necessary to diversify them with other factors. The companies with their product and services want to create an emotional link with consumers, but also and establish a deep relationship and experience. During in experience, a fundamental role is played by environmental and social context but also the physical or virtual store. The generation of emotions normally passes through the multisensorial involvement of the subject; materials, fragrances, colors, tastes, music, and symbols of various type.
In this regard, Fabris sustains that the consumer has changed skin or skin is changing by; looking experiences rather than products or sensations and emotions rather than use values. Brands become supplying centers of emotional energy, which create better relationships with potential consumers. This is because they have the ability that they have to tell stories that excite and integrate communication, quality, tradition and identity.
Aesthetic Intelligence
Aesthetic intelligence is our ability to understand, interpret, and articulate feelings that are elicited by a particular object or experience, to promote personal growth; it is a form of intelligence, but with a strong sensorial and emotional charge. Essentially, aesthetic intelligence is the development of “taste”—the ability to discern what is desirable, why and how to attain it. It also creates delight, lifts the human spirit, and rouses the imagination through sensorial experiences.
Furthermore, it takes a great deal of empathy for applying aesthetics to a service or product and eliciting the right emotional cues, so that customers are interested in buying. By the way, empathy is the ability to understand feelings of other people. The word derives from the Greek “εμπάθεια” (empathy is a feeling “inside” a person). For instance, many of the cosmetic brands grew through giving shoppers free samples; they knew that their claims of offering great products were only validated once customers had the opportunity to experience them; their feel, their smell, and their effect on the skin.
If people want to differentiate themselves from their competitors, they need to start thinking about ways to integrate more of the senses into their own business proposition. That action would go closer to what customers want by using senses to boost brand recognition; make customers have positive emotions; remember and be loyal; but also attract more customer. For instance, surveys show that;
- 85% of shoppers place color as a primary reason why they buy a particular product; that color increases brand recognition by 80%.
- Brands with music that fit their brand identity are 96% more likely to be remembered, than brands with no music or music that doesn’t fit their brand.
- While only 3% of Fortune 1000 companies use smell in their marketing or branding, research shows that 75% of our emotions are generated by what we smell.
- Sight and hearing were the top two senses according to buyers and non-buyers of luxury products or services; 82% of participants ranking sight in the top two senses and 66% ranking hearing.
- Hospitality, real estate, entertainment, gaming, medical and financial fields are expanding into the benefits of sensory experiences; in response to recent studies that show more than 7 in 10 people crave experiences that stimulate their senses.
Applying aesthetic intelligence to their brand can truly be a game-changer; however cultivating and elevating it requires a concerted and deliberate effort. The most appropriate option is to first experiment and identify their aesthetic identity and realize its benefits to their lives and then proceed further by working how that improves their professional identity.
Aesthetic Intelligence in Healthcare
In 1992, Heilig ranked the order in which he believed our attention is captured by the various senses. According to Heilig’s rankings: vision, 70%; audition, 20%; olfaction, 5%; touch, 4%; and taste, 1%. Does the same hierarchy (and weighting) apply to our appreciation of healthcare, one might wonder?
Sight, hearing, smell, taste and tough influence both clinical outcomes and satisfaction. Given many such psychological observations, it is no surprise to find that links between cognitive neuroscience and healthcare have grown rapidly in recent years. So, this article offers suggestions to healthcare section, such as doctor offices and pharmacies, on ways to improve receiver’s sensory perceptions.
Doctor Offices
The senses received relatively little attention during the early beginnings of medical anthropology. However, this should not be interpreted as a sign of a lack of awareness of their presence in human behavior, particularly in settings of sickness, suffering, healing and care. No one will deny or depreciate the huge impact of sensorial experience on our lives and on experiences of illness and suffering in particular. Grasping sensorial modalities in words and arguments, however, proved a huge challenge to anthropologists struggling with the ‘mindful body’, which delayed theoretical and methodological analysis of their observations.
A doctor’s office offers its patients a service that is ‘needed but not desired’. Patients must be physically present when the service is rendered. Even when service quality is superb, the experience compounds negative emotions, such as stress, anxiety, pain, uncertainty, or fear. It is a challenge for doctors to deliver a satisfactory service to receivers in such states of mind. Thus, it is important for them to obtain a clear picture of how the experience is handled by the patient; the factors that can influence patients and bystanders’ moods and states of mind and; any possible measures that can be taken to improve their perceptions. This redesign of the service delivery system could be firstly focus on the five senses.
For instance, in examination rooms, patient’s clothing may end up on a chair because the clothing hooks are either inconveniently located or absent altogether. Waiting areas may consist of a series of small alcoves where patients invariably feel cramped or their personal space is restricted. These examples illustrate just a few of the many oversights in practitioner’s healthcare offices; doctors can improve the physical surrounding for their patients, yet often they do not.
Additionally, there are fears and phobias at the doctor’s office. A review study about fear and phobia found 21.2% of participants experienced mild to intense fear of; injections, doctors, blood, dentist, injury, hospitals. An estimated 3-4% of the general population have BII phobia (Blood/Injections/Injury)
We need to remember that client experiences are created using all of the senses. The wrong approach can led to lost market share and a damaged brand. In a research, 62% of the consumers share bad experience with others. For instance, we can’t focus on the look of the office and neglect the sound. And, we can’t provide tasty treats and assume that will compensate for the extremely uncomfortable chairs. We need to focus on improving the sights, scents, sounds, feel, and taste in our office to provide our visitors with a well-rounded, beautiful, and comfortable experience.
All these affect not only the quality of the patient experience, but also the success and reputation of the doctor’s practice. Beyond improving patient’s immediate experience, attracting and retaining patients matters to doctors and that has direct impact on revenue. So it’s important to transform our patient experience into competitive advantage. Thus it’s vital to learn how to reimagine the patient experience as a continuous opportunity for ongoing, proactive engagement.
Hearing
What a space sounds like is undoubtedly important. Sounds can, after all, provide subtle cues as to the identity or proportions of a space, even hinting at its function. Every space has its characteristic sound of intimacy or monumentality, rejection or invitation, hospitality or hostility.
One of the greatest sources of stress is noise; bells or the use of medical equipment could decrease the service quality. There is also an emerging story regarding the deleterious effects of loud background noise. To control noise in the healthcare environment, a research by Herman Miller Healthcare notes that 70-80% of the acoustical properties in the room are accounted by properties of the floor and ceiling. An issue paper by the Center of Health Design in U.K. notes that noise, speech privacy, and speech intelligibility, all impact members of the healthcare community.
On the contrary, the lack of sound may create anxiety, so an element of sound is needed to break the tension in the room and create a more natural setting for the patients. For instance, music plays an important role in our experience of the built environment. In 2019, in the study ‘Music and Medicine’ about the costs and benefits of music, soundscapes, and noise in healthcare settings, there is an emerging story regarding the often-beneficial effects of music and soundscapes, on the recovery of patients in the healthcare setting. However, music style needs to combine customers’ demographics, but also doctor’s personal style.
Recently, I needed to proceed to a series of therapies for my back and I had to stay alone in the room for the therapy, for long time. So I noticed that my first physiotherapist used radio channels with pop music interrupted by ads, while my second physiotherapist has vinyl discs with classical music or listens to jazz or Italian music; this is actually a reason to start discussing about culture and travelling. This also shows the aesthetic intelligence of the doctor and the patient.
Sight
We are visually dominant creatures. That is, we all mostly tend to think, reason, and imagine visually. For instance, according to Felleman & Van Essen, more than half of the cortex is engaged in the processing of visual information; though note that others believe that the figure is closer to one third. Visitors create their first impression of an office based mostly on what they see; their sight directs their initial idea about the look and feel of the waiting room. So, creating an atmosphere that will create a strong first impression, is important.
There is considerable research about the role of personalization in the office environment. Offices can be both functional and ceremonial. Americans personalize their offices, and estimates are that upwards of 70% do so; those of higher status are more likely to make themselves known through displays. Research on psychotherapists suggests displaying diplomas and certifications is important. If the private office is used as a consultation space, patients will look for evidence that the doctor is qualified. This information is available on the Internet, but seeing it reinforces that knowledge.
For example, the social psychologist Sam Gosling describes how office displays communicate clues to personality. Using a personality inventory that targets five traits, (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism), research showed people make inferences about a room’s occupant from the artifacts in the room. In the research, conscientiousness was negatively related to room clutter, which suggests that people associate neat then ‘good use of space,’ ‘clean,’ and ‘organized,’ were positively correlated with judgements of conscientiousness; ‘cluttered’ was negatively correlated with judgements of conscientiousness. By the way, regarding cleanliness, a designer points to patients’ expectations and schemas that they expect sinks in the exam room and expect to see doctors wash their hands; the patient needs to see it; it is a visual cue. Other correlations with conscientiousness point to the schema one might have of a doctor’s office. Succinctly, this research described the physical environment of a conscientious person (someone who might be a doctor) as roomy; expensive; in good condition; more empty than full; comfortable, inviting; and formal.
Rooms color also has a great effect on the patients’ psychology. If the room’s furniture or wall or floor had no color, the patients will get bored, depressed, unhappy; that provides them a negative mood. However, by having different light colors that represent happiness and healing, the patients would feel cheerful, less stressful and less anxiety. I.e. Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, used light green, blue, yellow and beige to improve cancer patient rooms atmosphere. A dentist’s office may want a soft blue to calm their patients, while; a pediatrician’s office may want to use bright, stimulating colors to make the office fun for young kids. Moreover the lighting of the room should include natural sunlight more than artificial light, giving the patient a warm feeling.
Apart from that, privacy protection may arguably be one of the defining issues of our time, whether we are talking about an office or healthcare environment. Typically, those consideration concern the spoken and written word, but a case can be made that visual privacy, specifically viewing the patient partially dressed or in an examination gown, is a violation of the person’s privacy and dignity.
Additionally, 46% of consumers stated they are more likely to buy from brands that share their beliefs & values. For instance, gynecologists and pediatricians in a non-governmental organization for the medical need in distance Greek islands, where I volunteered, had photos and articles about their work in their offices. Also the dentist office I go is family owned and one thing that I really admire about them, is that on their social media channels, they show other things. There are photographs of them enjoying family time, and getting up to normal things, away from the world of dentistry. This plays well into their family owned ethos, and adds a level of realism and relatability.
Smell
You may heard of the phrase ‘smell like a hospital’, which terrifies me.
In general, scent is an easy thing to overlook; we often don’t think about smells unless we are trying to cover up a bad one. This is perhaps no coincidence, given that it tends to be the bad odors, rather than the neutral or positive ones, that have generally proved most effective in immersing us in an experience. This gives the patients negative feelings, such as nauseate and uncomfortableness. Also a trusting issue has been raised for doctors that smell smoking or heavy spices. The effects of smells do not relate only to the patients, but also the workers. For instance, some hospitals use air purifiers with nonchemical fruit scents or machines that diffuse calming anti-bacterial Essential Oils. Studies have found that before using Essential Oils, 40% of the workers were stressed, but after using it 3% were stressed.
But adding soothing scents to an office does more than cover up unpleasant smells (as there may be in a hospital). Infusing office with relaxing scents like lavender or eucalyptus can improve the environment of the waiting room while helping visitors feel more relaxed and less stressed. It can also control the impression customers have about the facility. For example, a fresh scent will make the office feel clean. Also, there is evidence that the olfactory element of design can be used to affect behavior change positively includes, for example, the observation that people tend to engage in more cleaning behaviors when there is a hint of citrus in the air.
There is also the notion of the healing garden, which has also seen something of a resurgence in recent years, and the benefits now, as historically, are likely to revolve, at least in part, around the healing, or restorative effect of the smell of flowers and plants, according to studies of Pearson, Ottoson & Grahn in 2005.
Touch
The tactile element of architecture is often ignored. In fact, very often, the first point of physical contact with a building typically occurs when we enter or leave, or as we put it: “The door handle is the handshake of the building”.
However, once inside a building, it is worth remembering that we will also typically make contact with flooring; hand rails; elevator buttons; furniture; and the like. The visitors also want to feel good, cozy and happy, while they wait in the seating area by using comfortable furniture and floor plan layouts. They may also have special needs if they are kids or patients on crutches or in wheelchairs; so doctors shall make sure to cope with visitor’s needs.
Apart from tactile element in a space, there are issues with some kind of exams, like pain of injections or the cold hardness of lying in a tomography scan, which make patients feel uncomfortable. For instance, 4 of 5 patients prefer cloth gowns, because they extend a more healing touch to garments that optimize patients’ tactile clinical experience.
Additionally, if doctors touch patients with kindness, then that affect the trusting issues of the latter. In particular, people invested 43% more money after briefly holding a warm pad, suggesting that the physical sensation of warmth let people to feel more comfortable, trusting and safer. A simple gesture such as offering a warm cup of coffee or a warm handshake can convey trustworthiness, which going a long way in easing consumers into longer transactions.
Taste
Anxiety before and during doctor’s office can cause a lot of unusual symptoms. But one of the strangest is the way that anxiety affects taste. Anxiety may genuinely cause a bad taste in the mouth, as eaten something gross. It’s one of the weirder symptoms of anxiety and while it’s not dangerous, it is potentially distressing or irritating. It should be noted that in some cases, the bad taste in your mouth may be the result of a disease that is simply worse during periods of high anxiety. Finding something that tastes better is the solution.
If we want to give our visitors a top-notch experience at our office, consider how we can appeal to their tastes by providing them; water so guests can get a drink while waiting or a fresh pitcher with lemon or cucumber infused water; coffee for waiting patients and their families who are attending the appointment with them; a small bowl of mints or candies to guests, especially for kids that enjoy being rewarded for patiently waiting. Today’s patients are anxious about costs and approach healthcare with a consumer mindset. 75% of patients in a research want the same experience they get in other industries. When I was a child, the only reason I was going to the doctor was the colorful jelly candies in the waiting room.
Pharmacies
Pharmacists have always been in a service industry, including those in the community sector selling medicines and other health products, specifically for the delivery of health and medication-related services.
But what keeps customers coming to the front end? Is the price lower than the online and mail-order competition? Is there a broader product selection? Is there order provision in the late evening and weekends? Most independent pharmacies don’t have the resources to compete with online retailers and pharmacies in convenience and price. But the brick-and-mortar locations enable them to engage shoppers in ways impossible for retailers who only exist in cyberspace. One of the greatest differentiators between internet-based purchases and in-store selection is the ability for brick-and-mortar retailers to engage shoppers in a more emotional way by tapping into the five senses.
There are various idioms referring to the importance of making a good first impression, or a good impression, overall. Service companies depend on front-line service workers to control and communicate a certain image that consumers/patients will associate with the business and with the service. The front of the store is really where the five senses can become a value-add to the shopping experience and a definite continuation of differentiation.
Value-added pharmacy services encompass traditional and emerging services provided by pharmacists to individual and entire populations of persons increasingly under the auspices of a public health mandate. A recent study of both “traditional” and emerging pharmacist services found that visual appeal of the pharmacy and its aesthetics, including the image projected by service personnel, impacts the relationship between perceived quality of the service and thus customer loyalty. A six month quantitative study in Germany in 2018 used data obtained from 289 standardized interviews on respondents’ prescription. The service elements personal interaction (path coefficient: 0.31); physical aspect (0.12); store policy (0.24); and availability (0.1) have a positive significant effect on perceived customer value.
The aesthetic appeal of services is thus under significant control and can be managed effectively by the pharmacy. The impression of those using or experiencing the service will go a long way, particularly in an age where reviews of experiences are proliferated so quickly on web-based ratings platforms. It is important, then, to manage not only the entirety of the service but also its individual components.
Addressing the physical aspects of the store not only influences customers positively but also employees, so that an improved physical environment has an additional advantage. An improved physical work environment for employees may, for example, increase job satisfaction or reduce intentions to quit employment.
Many independent pharmacies, and retailers generally, struggle to engage more than sight and sound in their front end. But there are numerous ways to stimulate all the senses to make your pharmacy more successful. This influences the patient’s experience and thus their satisfaction with service experience. There’s unrealized opportunity in every retail operation, every pharmacy has untapped potential. Looking for ways to appeal to the shopper through one or all of the senses will keep them engaged, create a more memorable experience, and enhance their perception of the pharmacy well into the future.
This following sessions provide a number of examples about the five senses, resulting in a greater prevalence and scope of value-added services being offered.
Touch
Touch may be the most-neglected sense by independent pharmacies. However, the tactile experience of shopping–to touch, feel and try on–is a tremendous draw for customers. About 50% of consumers are turned off to online shopping because they can’t do that. And it certainly contributes to the large number of returns e-commerce retailers face. So, this is a significant portion of consumers, so employing a sense of touch in the store is a must.
Touch provides us with an important amount of information to make an informed decision. It is a sense that is capable of generating an experience that is more connected and interactive for the customer. 5.6% of people stated that the physical feel via sense of touch was most important. The almost 500 Apple stores worldwide are an example by allowing customers to use, feel and try its products when in-store. Touch enables the customers to evaluate the quality and functionality of the Apple products at the same time, which facilitates the purchase process and drives brand loyalty.
In detail, the more people touch products while shopping the more likely they are to buy and spend more money when doing it. Especially, items whose quality depends on texture and thickness, like hosiery and incontinence products, really need to be felt by patients before a purchase. The psychology behind it is called the endowment effect, whereby people value things more that they own and touching a product in the store tends to make them feel that sense of ownership.
Not only that, but touching something can activate other senses in the shopping experience. The touch and feel of an iconic Coca Cola bottle brings the taste of Coke to mind. Similarly, the body-shaped bottle of Jean Paul Gaultier perfume invites touch as it consistently fits the personality of this sensual, highly-sexualized brand. Once in hand, a spritz of the cologne on the wrist seals the deal by activating the sense of smell.
Many brands incorporate a sense of touch, think of products we see at a store. Many of them include openings so that we can feel the texture of the product. Additionally, to engage customers tactilely, leave a “test” version product out for patients to feel. Make sure to label it as a test product. Not only will the guests be enthralled with the idea of putting something on that’s both free and theoretically they hadn’t considered buying, but it also gives a soothing sensation to the skin and it may lead to a sale. This not only helps make the sale, but it also helps educate the customers. Also, placing hand sanitizer stations throughout the store reinforces dedication to cleanliness.
I like the free samples in my neighborhood’s pharmacy store; this helps me test new products. But most of all, I love my pharmacist’s hugs.
Sound
The right music in-store also influences memory, emotion and movement. One study identified how ‘pulse and tonality’ of music activates wide networks in the brain, including the limbic system tied to memory and emotion. Studies have shown that when a person listens to music and they find it pleasing, their body releases dopamine which increases their disposition to buying. More than half of people surveyed say that are likely to enjoy their shopping experience more when they hear music in a store. 84% of people surveyed say that music helps create a positive experience, while; 63% of customers stay longer in stores when music they like is being played. This explains why the majority of retailers play music in-store. According to branding expert Martin Lindstrom and author of ‘Brand Sense: Sensory Secrets Behind The Stuff We Buy’, the brands with music that ‘fit’ their brand identity are 96% likelier to prompt memory recall.
What the pharmacy chooses to play over the speakers forms part of its identity; the volume, genre, and quality all matter. As far as which type of music or ambient noise to play, that varies; it’s up to the individual pharmacy and the kind of mood they want to set. It really depends on what kind of an expression of the store they’re trying to portray. For retailers to use sonic branding effectively they need to think beyond random sound tracks chosen by the store manager in the morning and create a symphony of sound that captures the heart and soul of the brand. For instance, Wrangler jeans activate positive feelings associated with its country-music roots by teaming up with Universal Music Group Nashville to feature music videos in store.
Also consider the privacy of customers near the prescription counter and in the waiting area. Are there enough barriers to prevent sound from carrying?
Smell
When patients walk into a pharmacy, the first thing they notice is the smell. Smell is the only sense that has a direct line to our brain’s limbic system. That’s important because the limbic system deals with long-term memory and emotion. Brands rely on memories associated with an emotion we feel and this is why scent is so significant when you build experiences. If you want customers to become endeared to your store, you have to give them something they can connect with to remember. Scent gives customers this connection. A study of Las Vegas slot players showed that players spent 45% more time in a scented environment than those in an unscented one.
The often overlooked fact is that the olfactory nerve is one of the most sensitive senses we have. That sensitivity makes finding the right balance of scent difficult. First, it is extremely important that you rid your shop of any foul or bad odors. Bad smells can disturb customers and send them away.
Starbucks is a case in point; back in 2007, Howard Schultz realized one of the reasons Starbucks’ sales were slipping was caused by the loss of the powerful coffee aroma in the stores due to a shift toward sealed packaged coffee and automated espresso machines and once again stripping the store of tradition and their heritage.
Test results have shown a 40% improvement in our mood when we’re exposed to a pleasant fragrance—particularly if the fragrance taps into a joyful memory. During the holidays, adding ambient scent (such as pine and spices) can increase sales — as long as its congruent “with consumers’ expectations or preferences regarding a retail store and its merchandise. So, the pharmacy owner should test out different smells and figure out what’s right for them. It really depends on what we are trying to do.
When entering my neighborhood’s pharmacy, I’m always looking forward smelling the pharmacist’s perfume; it is something that characterizes her, and that she has taken care of herself. This makes me believe that she is in good mood and that she will help me as well in what I’ll ask.
Taste
Taste is likely the last sense you think of in a pharmacy. It’s perhaps one of the more difficult to achieve. The sense of taste is often conveyed in the food industry, however this doesn’t mean that there is no room for it in other shops. According to Lindstrom, nearly 18% of the Fortune 1,000 companies could incorporate taste into their brands but have yet to explore this option.
There are some brands outside of food sector that are exploring the concept of creating a brand “taste”; Ikea is an example of a retail brand that has achieved a strong taste association for its brand via its in-store restaurants with 30% of Ikea customers now visiting the store just to eat.
Or take advantage of your consulting room, For example, when you’re consulting patients with diabetes, offer them a sample of a nutritional drink or bar that fits their needs. Having them take a small piece doesn’t cost a lot of money but it can lead to loyalty. Focus on food and drink items, such as herbal teas, healthy smoothies, nutrition bars, or baked treats; 46% of consumers stated they are more likely to buy from brands that share their beliefs & values.
Get creative, but make sure the snacks align with your image. I’ve heard of a story where a pharmacist liked cooking very much, so she brought at the story a handmade cake that offered it as complimentary. That was an accidental fact that moved her customers, who were asking for that in their next visit. So, that action of her raised the amount of her customers. This also shows the aesthetic intelligence of the pharmacist.
Sight
Sight is the most developed of the senses; 92% of people stated that they put the most importance on visual factors when purchasing products.
It not only plays an important role in key retail moments, such as whether or not the customer enters a shop, but it also responsible for transmitting the brand image and values. 1 out of 8 American consumers have entered in a store because a sign caught their interest.
Also, the customer’s in-store visual experience is a combination of different stimuli including the store façade, the window display as well as the store’s interior where the design, furnishing, lighting and color choices all come together. But it may still be used ineffectively if the visual cues and clues in the store are not tuned to the ones that will engage the customers most effectively; 52% of people in a survey stated that they won’t return to a store if they dislike the aesthetic.
The consistency of visual execution is key and this can be seen in visual merchandising through to the overall store experience.
What I like to see in my neighborhood’s pharmacy store is its cleanliness and organization, but also its happy workers with careful appearance, who are willing to help. Last time I went, employees and customers started joking and laughing, making a warm atmosphere – just imagine that some of them faced health issues, which is not pleasant…
Summing up the senses
In the process to spice up the individual senses, we need to think collectively. We need to consider how the interaction of all these different senses work with and against each other. Fully engaging the patients’ senses isn’t a ‘set it and forget it’ task.
Applying Aesthetic Intelligence in doctor offices and pharmacies, in order to make your afforts grow and target to a profit, requires several steps. First of all, a sensory audit will help set the stage for a plan. Then you need to identify the emotions that the brand evokes through its codes and sensorial cues. After that you need to create a transformation plan that tells a story and sets an aesthetic direction. During this process, you also need to bring as much of yourself, your aesthetic intelligence in the equation as much as possible.
Approaching every single day as if it’s the grand opening and checking every detail makes sure it’s shipshape. The things that you would never allow on an opening, you shouldn’t allow the first-time a patient who comes through the door. Imagine the difference that makes if your working space was approached with that kind of vigor and spruced on the appearance, appealing to all five senses!