Freshly baked bread, fresh grass, the scent of flowers. These aromas are very often associated with pleasant thoughts of a beloved bakery, a a summer afternoon, or a feeling from the past that makes us inhale deeply, as the scent revives forgotten memories. But why does scent seem to evoke such strong emotions?

Scents can influence our performance, our behavior, and our mood. Aromas create reactions due to our personal associations with them. A smell affects us because we have associated that smell with a specific event. This is called associative learning – an event or object is linked to another based on an individual’s experiences. For example, I have a strong positive response to the smell of coconut because my first exposure to an intense coconut scent was using coconut-scented sunscreen on an island vacation. The vacation is a pleasant memory, and I associate the coconut scent with that pleasant memory, even though the specific aroma is neutral to others. Most people dislike the smell of manure; however, the smell can evoke pleasant nostalgia for someone who grew up on a farm and remembers their childhood. Scents can become positive or negative depending on how we have experienced them.

According to the American Psychological Association, the ability to detect odors in the environment is common to all living beings. The importance of the sense of smell is complex because we lack the language to describe it well. Comparing one scent to another (from something) is almost the only way to describe it.

Studies have shown that fetuses in the womb, when exposed to specific scents, prefer these scents as infants. These preferences continue even into adulthood.

What also complicates the olfactory sense is the fact that smells pass through our memory and emotion centers before being processed by the brain. Associated memories and their context play a crucial role in our perception of them. The olfactory system is identified with associative learning because it is connected to our brain’s limbic system (subconscious), i.e., the parts of the brain that process emotions and promote associative learning.

The limbic system is a group of structures in the brain that influences emotions, mood, memory, and human behavior. It is sometimes called the “primitive” part of the brain because the same structures were found in the brains of early mammals. The sense of smell is the only one of our senses that connects with us in this way. This explains how smells evoke such intense emotional responses.

How do scents affect our mood, and even our well-being?

Associative learning can make an individual prefer one scent over another, but it can also explain how smells affect our mood and behavior. Studies on scents have shown that our moods influence our thoughts and actions. People in a positive mood are more creative than people in a negative mood. Exposing people to a pleasant scent they liked made them more creative in problem-solving. A positive mood has been shown to be linked to greater productivity and performance. Exposure to pleasant odors increases positive behavior, such as more effective task completion and a willingness to help others. Exposure to pleasant odors has also been found to improve performance on complex or tedious tasks. On the other hand, exposure to unpleasant odors reduces employees’ judgment and patience.

Marketers have generally concluded that making products smell good will encourage consumers to buy them, but research has truly shown how much influence scent can have.

The study “Proustian Products Preferred: The Relationship Between Scent-Evoked Memories and Product Evaluation” examined the relationship between scents and customer perception. The results found that products combined with scents that evoked strong emotional memories were considered superior to the same products whose scent did not evoke the same emotional response. The product that produced the most positive emotional memories was judged by consumers to be the best product and the one they remembered best. This effect of scent can not only create good feelings in consumers but can also influence their behavior so that they remember and buy the products that evoke these feelings.

Providing a superior customer experience begins with an emotional connection to your customers. Emotional connections through scenting can unite the heart of customers with the soul of a brand. Scenting your space is a powerful way to reach the customer on an emotional level.