The Effects of Aroma on Product Experience

Abstract

: To investigate how smell would affect the product experience, the present study chose the aromas of sweet orange and peppermint as the starting point of the product experience of the orange-shaped lego-like toy blocks. It was found that the aroma of sweet orange would lead to the highest degree of liking for the aroma, evoke images or expectations closer to the reality of the toy blocks, and relieve the fatigue of the participants after they directly smelled it. And the aroma of peppermint was found to moderate the tension caused by the blocks-building task and contribute to maintaining participants’ vigor. Notwithstanding, the aromas did not have noticeable effects on people’s degrees of liking for the toy blocks and their evaluations of the product due to the sensory dominance in the multisensory product experience. The potential roles of aromas in product experience remain to be investigated.