The neuroscience behind multisensory packaging: How haptics captivate shoppers in-store and online

Imagine stepping into a grocery store, convenience store or retail space. What happens first? As soon as we walk in, we see signs, posters and merchandising graphics. Then, we see shelves and end caps and all the different types of products and packaging. 

The imagery we see piques our interest — the designs, colors, photography, typography, shapes and sizes. 

What’s the next thing we do? We reach out and touch. We pick up a product, we feel it and turn it over in our hands to see more information. We may grab another product and compare the two. Next, we select one to buy. At this point in our shopping journey, we have activated two of our senses: our sense of sight and our sense of touch. 

In this and other experiences, our sense of touch has a superpower: connection. Think about when you see a friend you haven’t seen in a while; you hug, high-five or put your arm around their shoulder. Connection is a fundamental, innate human desire. Even during the pandemic, we found ways to touch. Remember fist bumps and elbow taps? There’s something about touching that makes us feel connected. 

To understand the influence of touch further, we need to look at neuroscience. You might be surprised to learn that more than half of our brain power constantly manages sensory input: sight, smell, taste, sound and touch. Based on brain scans and imagery, the sense of touch occupies a significant portion of that sensory processing. 

Psychological ownership and the endowment effect 

If you’re intrigued by what’s going on in your brain when your sense of touch is engaged, let’s go a little deeper. There’s a neuroscience phenomenon called psychological ownership. It means that merely touching a product increases our feeling of ownership. 

Again, think about your own shopping experiences. When we see something in a store and pick it up or take it off the shelf, we start to feel as if it’s ours, even before we’ve purchased it. When we hold it in our hands or put it in our cart, we consider that ‘it’s already mine.’ That’s psychological ownership. 

You can imagine the impact of graphics, tactile effects, embellishments, die-cuts, foils, etc, on psychological ownership. 

If a product on the shelf looks like it would feel good to touch it, and then you pick it up, and it does feel good, well, the next logical step is to put it in your shopping cart. That whole cognitive process happens in a matter of seconds. 

Another phenomenon is triggered once we feel that sense of psychological ownership: The endowment effect. The endowment effect is our willingness to pay more for something we own or think we own. 

So now we understand why things we touch mean more to us than things we don’t. We feel connected to them. We remember them better. We feel like they’re ours. We’re willing to pay more for them. 

The impact on predicting sales 

But how powerful is sensory input in predicting sales? In a recent study between Sappi and Clemson University, researchers discovered that by simply touching a premium package two times, people are 50 percent more likely to take it home than to leave it in the store. Just two touches and that premium product is on its way home more than half the time. The study also showed that with four touches, people are 90 percent more likely to take that same premium product home.

Unviewed is also unsold. If your packaging doesn’t inspire people, they are less likely to post about it. The simple math shows that your client could be missing out on billions of views 

Think about the various embellishments that we can add to packaging. The elements you might suggest to a client or brand to make it elegant, or to make it traditional, or to make it feel and look natural or tranquil. You suggest these embellishments to increase a consumer’s connection to the product and brand and, ultimately, to increase their decision to purchase. After all, one of the primary business goals for most brands is to increase sales. 

More is more 

Let’s go back to our neuroscience studies. Researchers have also found that more is more. That is, the more senses a retail or grocery store can engage, the more connection it can make to the shopper. So, in addition to our sense of sight and touch, our sense of hearing is activated when we walk into a retail space. There’s noise all around us — conversation, announcements over the PA, music. Some stores even have signature music they play that matches their consumer demographic. If I’m shopping with my daughter at American Threads, the music is different than if I’m shopping at Nike, Marshalls or a boutique shop. With audio, now three of our senses are activated. What if we, printers, designers, brand owners, can activate a fourth sense to further enhance that consumer connection? 

We can, and we do. Some of the varnishes you see in print and packaging today are scented varnishes. You touch one, and it releases scent capsules. Chocolate, vanilla, coffee, lemon. That design choice is based on research: the more senses we can activate, the more emotional connection consumers feel to that product and brand. 

The star of the unboxing experience 

Let’s step outside of the store now and go into the home. You already know that many packages and printed materials are so beautiful or creative that people keep them as prized possessions. 

When you’ve included haptics that generate an emotional connection, people don’t just save them; they also talk about them to their friends, family and followers. They may post an image on Instagram or record an unboxing video for Facebook or TikTok. 

Some people watch unboxing videos for fun; some watch them as part of their product research before they buy. Did you know that 97 percent of people read reviews or watch product videos before they purchase something? 

Here’s what’s interesting from a packaging design perspective: if you watch unboxing videos, have you ever noticed that about the first 20 to 25 percent of the video is focused solely on the packaging? So, whether that’s a five-minute video or a 30-second video, that’s still 20 percent focused on the packaging alone. This speaks volumes about the value of specialty effects in haptics and embellishments that we’re including on our packaging. 

What does this mean to your clients? Well, in 2023, YouTube videos with the word ‘unboxing’ in their title were viewed 25 billion times. Let’s extrapolate that. About 60 percent of people watching unboxing videos have an intention to purchase that product (or 

a similar one). And 20 percent of that video is focused on the packaging. That packaging may even have been what inspired the person to post their unboxing video in the first place. 

So, let’s do a little bit of math: 25 billion views; 60 percent of people watching are intending to buy; that’s 15 billion views by potential customers of that product, of that brand, which we can now link all the way back to the printed packaging and its material and special effects. As you’re talking with your customers and advising them about embellishments and haptics (and you’re naturally discussing benefits versus costs versus time and so on, right?), consider those numbers. 

Bringing it home 

You could even discuss it this way: untouched is unsold. If people aren’t inspired to touch your package, they are 50 percent less likely to take it home. Unviewed is also unsold. If your packaging doesn’t inspire people, they are less likely to post about it. 

The simple math shows that your client could be missing out on billions of views by a captive, intentional and interested consumer audience. 

The most successful converters, printers and brands continue learning more about the physical, psychological and emotional connections regarding the sense of touch. They leverage that knowledge by finding powerful and unique ways to appeal to the haptic senses in our brains through packaging that engages us, drives purchase intent, builds brand loyalty and creates share-worthy unboxing experiences. 

Vicki Strull is a design strategist with more than 25 years in the industry designing packaging, brand identities and a multitude of packaging and online touchpoints.Vicki co-founded MarketWise Academy to help fellow designers and marketers accelerate their impact, level up their design strategies, and thrive in a world dominated by business. That’s where the idea for The Business 6 originated.To learn more about The Business 6 and other strategies, visit marketwiseacademy. com or contactVicki directly at vicki@vickistrull.com