In-store music that reflects a brand’s values made restaurant customers spend nine percent more and increased the likelihood that they would buy additional items, according to a study by Soundtrack Your Brand (a Spotify-backed company) and HUI Research.
Based on over 1.8 million business transactions and 2,101 customer surveys, the study is the largest ever on the impact of music on sales in a commercial setting. It compared how much restaurants sold when they played randomly selected songs to how much they sold when the music was more on brand.
While overall sales increased by 9.1 percent with the right brand soundtrack, certain product sales rose even more. Dessert sales (categorized as an add-on to just a meal) rose by more than 15 percent. The sale of side dishes rose by more than 11 percent.
Get Started With Square Customer Engagement
Tools that help you understand and engage your customers.
“Music with a strong brand fit matches the brand’s personality. It’s music that ‘feels’ like the brand. In the same way that … materials and lighting in a restaurant can evoke certain emotions, music can also play an integral part in how a brand is perceived,” says Soundtrack Your Brand. It added, “sound reaches the mind first, much quicker than touch or vision. Music is one of the most useful components in an efficient interior strategy.”
And when it comes to appealing to customers’ senses, people react strongly to sound — particularly when it isn’t just a random mix. Besides boosting sales, the study found that playing music that has a good brand fit evoked a broad range of positive emotions among patrons. (And we know that positive emotions can help sales and return visits.)
A tip for putting together a brand soundtrack: Think about creating a playlist that has a combination of popular and lesser-known songs. A mix of familiar and unfamiliar music is a recipe for even higher sales, the study shows.
Soundtrack Your Brand has a product, Soundtrack Business, that helps you pick a soundtrack that matches the energy and feeling you strive to create in your commercial environment. Learn more about Soundtrack Business and download the full report here.
