302. Beyond Physical Contact: The Science of Visual and Emotional Touch (Refreshed Episode)

Welcome to episode 302 of the Brainy Business. Understanding the Psychology of why People buy. Today's episode is all about the sense of touch.

Ready? Let's get started.

You are listening to the Brainy Business podcast where we dig into the psychology of why people buy and help you incorporate behavioral economics into your business, making it more brain friendly. Now, here's your host, Melina Palmer.

Hello. Hello everyone. My name is Melina Palmer and I want to welcome you to the Brainy Business Podcast. Today's episode is all about the sense of touch and the impact it can have on businesses. This episode is a special one because it's essentially on the eve of the five year anniversary of the show, which we're officially celebrating on Friday. Five years of the Brainy Business Podcast.

Can you believe it?

I know I have a hard time believing it sometimes. The years and hundreds of episodes and books and many speaking engagements and amazing clients have both flown by and in many ways it also feels like it's.

Always been this way.

You know that feeling. I think the best things in life feel like that.

It's like I can't remember a time.

Before I had the podcast.

Feels like it's always been part of.

Me and what I do. But I know it's only been five years and it feels just like yesterday I was researching how to even start a podcast. For everyone who's been here for the full five years, thank you so much for your support and for everyone who's here for the first time and everything in between, thank you as well. I appreciate you all. Thank you for listening, subscribing, rating, leaving reviews, sharing with friends and colleagues. We wouldn't still be here if it wasn't for you, so thank you and.

Please keep it up.

Now, what are we talking about today on this momentous occasion of the anniversary eve? That is of course, the power of our sense of touch. We've been revisiting and refreshing episodes on the Five Senses over the past three weeks. So far we've relearned about smell and hearing and today, touch. This one was the obvious choice because of my conversation with data artist Sarah K. Miller to celebrate the actual anniversary this Friday in episode 303. Such a cool one that I can't wait to share with you. She created a piece of data art on the show to commemorate the occasion. I can't wait to release it very, very soon. If you aren't already subscribed to the Brainy Business, now's a good time to make sure you don't miss that and as you'll learn in this refreshed episode, there's a lot of crossover between our senses. You can have a power and impact from the sense of touch, even when people don't touch anything at all. Isn't that amazing? As you heard reiterated from Jonah Berger last week when talking about magic words, the there are times when it's really helpful and important to make a concept more tangible and concrete instead of being abstract. There are, of course, times where being abstract works better as well. More on that in that episode and in his book, of course, Magic Words. With that in mind, understanding how our sense of touch works, including the power.

Of touch without touch, as I like.

To talk about it, is a key piece of this episode and really important in making the abstract feel more real, which is also a key value that comes from data art. And of course, that's why I wanted to refresh this episode today on the sense of touch and why it matters for business. Don't forget about the show notes for the episode, including all sorts of goodies like related articles, books, and links to past episodes, including many that weren't out when this one first aired at the end of 2018. Those notes are found within the app you're listening to and@the brainybusiness.com 302 all right, let's talk about the sense of touch.

When I started this series on the senses, touch was one of the topics I was most excited to share with all of you. One of the reasons I saved it for last, actually. All the senses are amazing and they all help shape our lives. But touch is directly connected to buying behavior in a way that is just fascinating to behold. We value things more once we've touched them, and the triad of the endowment effect, perceived ownership, and loss aversion are triggered directly by touch, which I'm going to get into of course, during the episode. But first I'm going to tell you a little about how touch works. Unlike the other senses, which are much more foreign to us, touch seems like something we just inherently get. Touch is directly linked to our emotional language. We say things like that just feels wrong or it was a touching piece, almost as if they're nothing. But it's really intriguing when you think about it. How do things that have no tactical implications, things we do not actually sense with our skin, still impact the sense of touch? I've linked to a TED Talk on the science of touching and feeling, which you can and should check out after the episode. In it, Dr. David Linden talks about how the sense of touch impacts and is tied to our emotions. All of our senses are important, but we can get along without most of them. People without a sense of smell, sight, taste or hearing can still have wonderful, fulfilling lives. Touch is not the same in the 1970s, overpopulated orphanages in Romania meant many children were not able to be attended to in a loving way. They were not held or hugged because there was no one available to do so. And these children developed disorders beyond their skin. They developed attachment disorders and learned to self soothe in compulsive and unhealthy ways like rocking back and forth forth and also had cognitive delays, stunted growth and gastrointestinal issues, as well as weak immune systems. Many things we would not associate with touch on the surface. So if it's not obviously touch, how did they know that? The lack of touch and human contact is what influenced all of this. As more volunteers came to the orphanages, those infants under the age of two who were then able to get just 3:30 minutes of loving touch a day being held or hugged had almost a complete reversal of the symptoms. The effects, unfortunately, were permanent for those who received intervention over the age of two. However, that does not mean touch is no longer important once someone hits three years of age. Our sense of touch and having contact with others is important for development throughout life. As Dr. Linden says in that great TED talk, Touch is social glue. It's what binds us all together. Parents, partners, siblings, friends. We become closer when we have this appropriate touch between people. And doctors who appropriately touch patients during exams have been shown to have better ratings on compassion scores and their patients actually have better outcomes and lower stress hormone levels. I'm not going to get into the politics of touch and how this has changed, especially recently, but it's important to the development of people and society and something to keep in mind as policies are developed and in our interactions with others. Have you ever watched a movie where the main character is struggling to emotionally overcome some sort of obstacle? If you've ever seen a movie, the answer is probably yes. But let's say the main character is someone who's closed off, detached, distant and difficult due to this time of year. Let's think of the Grinch. Or if you aren't familiar, even though I do have a little link in the show notes, it is very similar to Scrooge in the Dickens book A Christmas Carol. While it may not be directly stated the Grinch or Scrooge are averse to touch until developing emotionally as a character. As the Grinch can feel more emotionally, he's also more receptive to touch, and we see this throughout the movie or in the book, but don't really realize what's happening. When the Grinch's heart grows three sizes, it's a way of expressing his ability to be open to the emotion of a society and everything that comes with it. The who's in Whoville are holding hands and singing to help him realize that Christmas is not about gifts, but about.

Emotional closeness with others.

Even if you've seen the movie many times, you might not remember the closing line. It says, Christmas Day is in our grasp so long as we have hands to clasp. Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we welcome Christmas while we stand heart to heart and hand in hand I've said it before, and I'll say it again, that Dr. Seuss knew more than we give him credit for. He was a smart man. As I alluded to earlier in the episode, I'm not going to get too in depth on how this sense works, because it's pretty similar to the others in that some area of the body reads a stimulus and it has to be interpreted by the brain, which you've heard me say four straight weeks now. But one last sort of grouping of things you need to know is the skin has many nerve endings. They're all over your skin and just surface, and they each have different jobs. Some are receptive to temperature, others to pressure or pain. The fingertips have many nerve endings for pressure, which is why they can be used to read Braille. The tongue or lips could do this as well, but you could not read Braille with your forearm or cheek because they do not have the right kinds of nerve endings in the proper density to be able to understand and interpret braille. As with so many things in life, the brain cannot value one off items properly. This is the concept of relativity, which was the focus of episode 12. If I was to place a bowl of water in front of you and ask if it's hot or cold, your answer will differ based on the circumstances immediately preceding the physical act of touching the water. For example, if the water is the exact same temperature as the room, which is a comfortable temperature for this example, you would likely not have a good answer of it being hot or cold. Perhaps the water is tepid or lukewarm. But what if I placed two more bowls of water in front of you? One has very hot but not scalding water and the other is a bowl of ice water. You place one hand in each of those bowls and keep it there for 30 seconds or a minute, and now you place both hands in the lukewarm bowl at the same time. Do they have the same sensation or interpretation of the water? Of course not. The ice cube hand will feel like the lukewarm water is incredibly hot, almost burning, while the hot water hand will feel the water as very cold. As with the Truth About Pricing, where it isn't really about the price, it's not about the water and its temperature, it's about everything leading up to the touch and temperature that matters. It's like if you've ever been in a hot tub and then jumped into a swimming pool, it feels much colder than if you were to just go directly into the pool. The nerve endings in our bodies are different than emotional touch and sensation, which is also incredibly important both to the human condition in general and in business. For those of you who've been listening to the podcast for a while, or heard me speak before, you know I love to compare the subconscious brain to a small child. If you've ever had kids, you will definitely know what I'm about to mention, and many of you without children are likely familiar with this phenomenon as well. If a child falls down or bonks their head, they might not cry right away. In many cases, they look to the adults around them to determine if they're actually hurt. So when a baby bonks into a wall and mom runs over frantically saying, oh no, that must have hurt so badly, my poor baby. The child will react differently than the mom, who either ignores the incident intentionally, of course, noting we don't have a bleeding infant on our hands, or laughs lightly and says, bonk, bonk, silly baby. Hey, what's that? In the first scenario, the baby will learn that everything hurts and there's a strong emotional tie to touch. The second baby may learn to be more resilient and evaluate sensations to determine if they're painful or something to learn from. Emotion and touch are very closely linked and we form bonds with the way things feel. I'm going to dig into each of these aspects of touch and how they impact business as we move through the episode, but now that you know a little about how the sense of touch works physically, and there are of course, links in the show notes if you want more details, let's start talking about the first of the many impacts it has on your business. First, let's talk teamwork. As I've already alluded to here in the episode from that story about the orphans in Romania, human contact is important to our development throughout our lives, and touch has been shown to impact the the overall effectiveness of teams. A study from UC Berkeley found that NBA basketball teams who engaged in more celebratory touch during the first half of the season, be it through high fives, chest bumps, pats on the back or hugs, ended up winning more games and played better together than those teams with less celebratory touch in the second half of the season. That also meant less ball hogging from star players and better overall camaraderie and performance in addition to their winning records. While we've all likely been to that team building event, which seems totally hokey and awkward in the moment, they can be incredibly effective. There's a reason that they've endured for such a long time. Appropriate touch among teams, be it NBA players or in the marketing department, have been proven to have an impact on performance. Similarly, a waitress who touches the arm of a patron in a platonic way, whether that patron's male or female, will get more tips when the bill comes. If you're like me and you think you might recoil at this, try and be aware of it and look around. Someone may be providing comforting touch. Or you might do this yourself, yourself in conversations and not even notice. It's part of who we are as humans and it impacts our relationships, which means it impacts sales and business. Of course, there is always a flip side if you touch someone and it is not well received. Yikes. It's going to burn much more than a bridge, let me tell you. So this is something to use with caution. Definitely look to your HR department, things like that, if you're going to be incorporating appropriate touch. Appropriate is the keyword there. And as I said, not getting into the politics of this. So we're going to move on. Let's talk about objects and the touch of an object. As I mentioned, our fingertips are incredibly sensitive to touch. We can tell the difference between thick or thin paper, glossy or matte, if the print is raised or pressed in, or if it's flat, and many other things without looking at an item. Whether we realize it or not, the texture of the paper an item is printed on says a lot to our subconscious about the business as a whole. If someone was to print their business cards on a laser printer at home and then cut them out by hand, would you be able to tell the difference if they gave it to you at a conference or or a networking event? Absolutely. And what does that say about a business? Cheap, not a real business, not willing to invest in their own success, Sloppy, unable to properly value their own time, and so much more. Do you realize this consciously? Maybe a little. Or on a few of those items, especially if it's cut out very randomly. But many of them, many of these things are not going to alert your conscious. You're going to flag that person in your unprofessional pile subconsciously and move along. Later, when you say something just doesn't feel right again, notice that touch sensation feeling word about working with them. You likely are not going to put two and two together and you couldn't tell them what it is. But that first impression is everything and could be impacting every decision from that point point forward. So invest in high quality materials and ones that reflect your brand and message. For example, if you're sending out something about being green or eco friendly, it is better to be on obviously recycled paper. You want that texture to be rough, maybe even print on a sheet of paper that can be planted and grow into flowers. They make that you know it says something about your brand and like the sound in your physical location is more impactful when it's in alignment with your branding and Persona. The feel of something even as simple as the paper your business cards are printed on will do the same thing. If you want to show you're out of the box, there are many options. I've gotten wooden and metal business cards and they definitely say something about the.

Person who gives them to me.

And this goes far beyond business cards. Think about everything that's physically touched. Let's just start with print postcards, letterhead, envelopes, thank you cards. They all say something about your brand. Hopefully you put a lot of thought into the words you send out in the world from your business. But did you think much about the paper it's printed on? You should, because as you've heard me say on this podcast, many, many times, everything matters. What about moving beyond paper products? Businesses have many other physical items people can touch, and it's absolutely in your best interest to have someone touch an item if you can. If you remember the episode on Loss Aversion, which was number nine by the way, and I highly recommend listening to it after this one if you haven't already, or if you just want a refresher. I talked about the overnight test drive and how quickly our brains take ownership over items. Merely touching an item greatly increases the ownership someone feels over that item and and then the brain doesn't want to give it up. The brain says this is mine now. And once you've started to envision the person you would be if you own the item. This happens when you see it, but touching it puts that instinct into overdrive. And remember, our brains are wired to seek out rewards, which I talked about extensively in the episodes on Habits. That means your brain wants you to reach out and touch things. Have you ever walked through a store and seen a cozy looking sweater or a soft blanket or other item and felt compelled to touch it? You may not be in the market for a new throw, but this looks so soft and cozy. Is it as soft as I think it is? Ooh, that's so nice. And before you know it, you have one for yourself and and each of your friends or family members. Because you want to give that gift, that feeling to others. And that's something. It says something about you giving this gift. It's not a coincidence that you can see and touch the item in that box. Toys often have a press here or feel this message on the box with a big arrow. Blankets don't need to be packaged with a hole in the box so you can feel the texture, but they often are. And while it's nice of them to let you try before you buy, these companies know that touch increases purchases. Similarly, getting people to try things on in a store greatly increases the likelihood they will buy them. In a previous business, I did a lot of book editing. One of the books I edited was about the strategy of dressing rooms and how they impact a clothing store. Really just amazing stuff. One of the things the author said was that far too many stores, the unsuccessful ones, neglect the power of the dressing room. They're badly lit, messy and unappealing. You've probably been in this dressing room before. No one's making it easy for you to try things on. They often treat you like a potential shoplifter, limiting items you can take in and making it more of a get in and get out as fast as possible kind of experience. And that is not conducive to purchases. Have you ever used a personal shopper? It's amazing and I highly recommend it if you haven't. I hired a stylist a couple years ago who helped me pare down my closet and buy new great pieces. That worked for me. Totally worth the investment. She arrived in advance to the store, set up the dressing room with tons of items for me to try on. I didn't have to worry about sizes or grabbing new items or putting things together.

It was just easy.

And she was able to gauge if something looked good on me or not. And she had snacks and it was well lit and she told me what should be altered and not. And it Was just so easy. I could completely experience the clothing and focus on what I liked, what felt good, what made me feel great, and none of the other stuff. And you know what? I bought a lot. Much more than I would have on my own. If every store experience was like this, people would buy more. Some stores have personal shoppers you can connect with, and it makes you more likely to try things on that you might not have otherwise. But the act of trying them on is the key. This is what leads to sales. I used to love the show what not to Wear on tlc. Did you ever watch that? Clinton and Stacy would have an unsuspecting person who they would save from their terrible wardrobe and teach them what to buy. It's very similar to my dressing room experience, except maybe that was a little more harsh. One of their lessons that always stuck with me was that you should incorporate into every outfit. They said color, pattern, texture and shine. Not everyone is going to touch your clothing, so why does texture matter? We can see and interpret what something might feel like using our eyes, and that creates visual interest and appeal. I've linked to a study called Visual Perception of Texture of Textiles, which found that the images of textiles and fabrics, which incorporated good light, could stimulate and create the psychological perception of that texture itself. So the visual stimuli from the image of a fabric could cause the individual's memory of similar textures that they had touched to be brought to mind and help create the perception of touch. This is very similar to the story I told you in the episode on Taste about mirror neurons with the monkey who saw the researcher eating the ice cream cone and their brain. The brain of the monkey was behaving as though the monkey was moving its arm, eating the ice cream cone itself, even though it wasn't moving at all. Our eyes do the same thing with the interpretation of a texture, the feel of something, even if we aren't touching it. Seeing fabric or surfaces with interesting textures, even from a distance, will stimulate the brain as if you were touching that fabric and receiving some of those benefits from the joy of touch. Think of this. When dressing for important occasions, people do judge the book by its cover and similar to the paper you print things on. Texture and the power of touch are actually a big influence on how people perceive you, even if they will never touch your outfit. When I'm going to be on a stage or going to a networking event, I look for outfits that incorporate textures, shine, pattern, and color because they are able to use all the senses. We can emotionally feel something with our eyes, and it helps us to make decisions about the person in front of us. Similarly, the feel of a piece, whether it's a couch, countertop, car interior, carpet, blanket, shoe, sock, jacket and everything in between, makes a big impact on purchase behavior. What about faux furs or leathers? If there is a way to manufacture a faux leather for a couch, let's say it costs a quarter of the amount you use to produce a real leather and it feels the same or better. You can sell the item for less and make more per unit than if it was using real leather. But if it feels fake, consumers will know and rebel quickly. It will feel cheap even if it cost more to make. It's about the feel of the item that can help interpret the way that they perceive your entire brand. So be aware of this when producing items and think about packaging as well. If you ship things in a box, what does it feel like? Is it rough or soft? Easy to open? Does it have a lining or is it just thrown together? This all impacts the overall experience. This may lead you to ask, but how do I get them to physically touch the item? In our online sales world, with Amazon taking over everything or otherwise advertising online, does touch come into play before the consumer can actually touch the item in question? You bet it does. This is the power of touch without touch, and just like that conversation about an outfit and how our eyes can perceive the texture of a fabric. This works with all sorts of items and the way that an individual can imagine themselves owning the item. I've linked to another study called the Effect of Mere Touch on Perceived Ownership, which talks, of course about the power of touch. But they also talk about the benefits of envisioning yourself as touching the object that is in front of you or in an image in front of you. The article starts by saying how in 2003, holiday shoppers in Illinois were warned of retailers encouraging them to hold items or imagine them as their own while shopping. Why? Because it can increase impulse buys. Let's do a little test. I want you to picture a leather couch. The description says material leather and leaves it at that. Does it sound appealing? Do you want to touch or feel the couch? Are you interested at all? Probably not. I mean, you've felt leather before. You have an idea of what that is, either good or bad. You don't really care to learn much more. What about this buttery, soft and supple chocolate brown leather? Maybe that piques your interest a little more. Well chosen words can make your brain trigger its texture centers, so you're responding as if you were touching it triggering perceived ownership loss, aversion and an increased likelihood of buying. The truth of the matter is touch, whether it is actually happening in your hands or simply in your mind, impacts sales. And this can be done with really great imagery of maybe someone wrapped in a blanket and obviously enjoying the feel of it. Our brain can interpret that using its mirror neurons and understand that power of Touch the power of touch is of course, most impactful when someone can physically touch something. But if you are not able to get something in their hands, words, sounds and images make big differences. And as I've already mentioned throughout the episode, this impacts service businesses as well. The materials you send out and the way you interact in person greatly impact the sense of touch. Because touch is all around us, we tend to associate terms of touch with the way we interpret people and brands. For example, saying a politician is slippery shapes your opinion of them. Slippery is nothing more than a touch term, but it impacts your overall perception of the person. Have you ever said a salesperson was slimy? Same thing. Someone can make you feel comfortable or rub you the wrong way, and it's important to consider the impression you're leaving on others and in your interactions and what that is meaning in these touch terms. The way that you make people feel it's exactly the same for brands big and small. Whether you are with a Fortune 500 company or a solopreneur, brands need to think about the way they make people feel and how that ties in with the overall company experience. If you've been following along with the freebies on the episodes about the senses, you've already done some work on your goals and how they align with perception. If not, you can check those out in the show notes or think about your company's own goals. Now, what do you want people to feel or think about your brand? What is your Persona? Are you about luxury or are you targeting people on a budget? Are you environmentally friendly? First and foremost? Are you a nonprofit that wants to show you're fiscally and fiduciarily responsible? The materials you choose for everything you do, from physical products to chairs in the lobby and business cards, postcards and letterhead, all impact the perception of your brand. Are yours reinforcing your brand at every turn or or making it more confusing for your customers in a way that they can't articulate to you? When things are out of alignment, customers can tell something's off and that impacts sales. Everything you do should be run through this brand filter and you should consider how all the senses are impacted. All the senses are impacting our lives much more than we realize. When you use intention and strategy in your brand culture, products, pricing and approach to include the complete sensory experience of your customer, you are putting yourself leaps and bounds ahead of the competition because most people ignore these things even though they're hugely important when it comes to sales and buying behavior.

So what got your brain buzzing as you learned about the sense of touch today? For me, I just love the value of touch without touch and how seeing something can make it so we feel it even when we don't. It's so amazing to me and such an important thing for brands to know. Beyond that, as we look to the value of metaphors and magic words like Jonah Berger talked about last week in episode 301, making a concept concrete in is really relying on this idea of making something feel real, even when it's just words or an idea. Our brains are truly amazing, aren't they? I find it all so fascinating when you stop and really think about it. Even something we thought we mastered in elementary school, like the five senses. That's why I felt it was important to refresh this episode for you today, both building on the ideas from Jonah last week and also setting a foundation for the conversation with data artist Sarah K. Miller this Friday in the five year anniversary episode. I can't wait to share with you about data art. It is so cool and something many businesses aren't really thinking about yet. Did you even know that a data artist is a job? Like there are companies that employ artists for data? So cool and as you'll hear in the next episode, so important in getting people to understand a concept and what you're talking about in a way that will help them to take an action, whatever that intended action is. You definitely don't want to miss this one. So if you aren't already subscribed to the Brainy Business, take a moment to do so now. For everyone who feels compelled to add a five star rating, drop a kind review, share an episode with a friend, or anything else. Thank you so so much for helping to spread the word of making business more brain friendly and in helping me to celebrate the first five years of the Brainy Business podcast. Let's make another five, shall we, to get more tips and insights on applying the sense of touch and all your senses into business. They're heavily featured in the priming chapter in part two of my first book, what your Customer Wants and Can't Tell youl, which is linked for you in the show notes. Of course, if you want to expand your thoughts on this concept and dig in even more on the senses and how to apply them in your work. Go ahead and flip to chapter six in your copy of what your customer wants and can't tell you. And of course, don't forget about all those other resources including related past episodes, books and many articles. If you want to really dig in on the sense of touch, they're all waiting for you in the show notes@the brainybusiness.com 302 and just like that, episode 302 on the power of Touch is done. Join me Friday for a brand new episode with Sarah K. Miller, a data artist who's helping to celebrate five years of the Brainy Business Podcast. It's going to be a lot of fun. You don't want to miss it. Until then, thanks again for listening and learning with me, and remember to be thoughtful.

Thank you for listening to the Brainy Business Podcast. Molina offers virtual strategy sessions, workshops and other services to help businesses be more brain friendly. For more free resources, visit thebrainybusiness. Com.