Visa - Sensory Branding

Table of Contents

1. What is sensory branding?
2. How does Visa's sensory branding work?
3. Expanding sensory shopping to all Visa merchants
4. What's the future of checkout? 
5. What is a sensory item?
6. Why is Visa using sensory branding?
7. What is haptic sensory output?

Visa is looking to turn customers' point of sale transactions into something a little more than just a cold-blooded exchange of cash for goods. Technology that generates sensory responses when your card is charged will, depending on the device used, ring in transactions with a song or sound effects, animated graphics, or even physical sensory feedback.

Skeptical? Jaded shoppers and vendors might see this as a feature that nobody asked for, but research shows that most consumers are actually happy to have their credit card transactions commemorated by something other than the angry beeping of the chip reader reminding them to remove their card. 

Visa commissioned a study that surveyed customers in eight different countries and found that over eighty percent of them had a positive reaction to sensory branding elements, which fostered an improved perception of both Visa and the vendor. 

What is sensory branding?

Sensory branding is a type of marketing that attempts to appeal to customers by taking advantage of one or more of the five senses in a way that traditional marketing doesn't.

Print and web advertisements are perceived only through sight, and video advertisements add in sound. Sensory branding goes beyond this by thinking about what customers experience from all five senses when interacting with a brand. Here are a few examples of companies that are already using sensory branding:

• Singapore Airlines requires flight attendants to wear a certain scent that the airlines have made part of their brand. This scent is also on towels and other items in airline locations.
• Disney has been at the forefront in using sensory branding for years. The company typically uses scents in their theme parks to associate certain smells with certain locations, make experiences more memorable, and encourage purchases.
  
• Companies like Dove have also pioneered using touch and shape as part of their branding. Dove created unique shampoo bottles that illustrate the feminine curves of their logos and other branding. 

While techniques like these have started to catch on with some companies, many businesses have resisted using sensory branding, either because it sounds silly, low-impact, or because it would require too much time and effort to research and implement.

How does Visa's sensory branding work?

Unsurprisingly, Visa quickly moved to implement sensory branding after the research demonstrated its benefits. Visa's sensory branding solution is designed to be integrated into the payment process on POS terminals, mobile wallets, eCommerce websites, and even smartwatches.

There are three parts to Visa's sensory branding. The first is sight. When a customer makes a payment with a Visa card, a short animation of the Visa logo plays on the appropriate screen, followed by a checkmark to confirm that the payment has been made. Part two is sound. As the animation plays, the device plays a sound that Visa has created to be associated with their brand. The third part, where applicable, is touch. If the customer is using a phone or smartwatch to make the payment, a specific vibration pattern plays along with the sound and animation.

The whole thing lasts less than a second, ensuring that customers don't get frustrating by any delays in completing a transaction.

However, Visa is confident that even this brief application of sensory branding will improve how customers feel about Visa as a brand.

These features were first demonstrated at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. As the exclusive payment technology partner of the Olympic Games, Visa rolled out a number of Olympic-branded wearable payment devices, including gloves, commemorative stickers, and lapel pins. 

Spectators and athletes alike were given these devices to speed up the payment process. Simply tapping one of these devices at an enabled payment terminal is enough to complete a transaction, and in this seamless context, it certainly makes sense that you'd want a little extra fanfare to confirm that the payment actually happened. 

There's sound logic behind the choice of these particular items as wearable payment devices. Gloves will be a necessity in cold winter temperatures, Olympic pins are always highly sought-after collectibles, and stickers can be placed anywhere. (If you're wondering how a sticker can be a payment device, there's a computer chip layered inside them.).

Expanding sensory shopping to all Visa merchants

The good news is, sensory-enabled Visa shopping isn't limited to the Olympics. Visa released a software development kit that allows retailers of all stripes to add sound, visuals, and tactile sensations to any Visa transaction conducted using a supported device.

It remains to be seen how merchants will take advantage of the opportunity to connect with their Visa-paying customers on an entirely new sensory level, but there's no doubt that inventive minds will come up with plenty of interesting ways to leverage this technology to increase sales and customer loyalty. 

What's the future of checkout? 

So, why would you want a payment device that rumbles when your credit takes a hit?

It turns out that when haptic payment devices are put into practice, those physical feedback sensations actually engender feelings of happiness and excitement in customers. 

The payment technology industry and customers alike are moving away from cash and plastic and becoming increasingly comfortable with digital payments and seamless checkouts, but as transactions become faster and less formalized with the introduction of new technologies, customers will be looking for sensory cues that tell them their transaction was carried out correctly and securely. Visa's study found that less than a second of audio feedback was enough to call their branding and its associated positive connotations to customers' minds.

Cardless, digital payments haven't yet reached a point of ubiquitous acceptance in the brick and mortar world yet, but as innovations like this encourage and normalize the practice of making payments with quick taps and circumventing the use of actual cards, we might soon find that a little musical refrain, an animated GIF, or a buzz of haptic feedback is what the next generation of consumers will expect as the normal response from their payment device when they buy their morning coffee.

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