WarmlyYours: A Sensory Experience

If you’re trying to sell your home, experts suggest having chocolate chip cookies or bread baking in the oven while having an open house. Is their reasoning based on some absurd notion that if you ‘kill them with kindness’ they’ll be more willing to invest thousands of dollars to buy your house on hospitality alone? Of course not! It seems for some; just smelling those delectable delights conjures up feelings of comfort and thoughts of home, thus, influencing their desire and decision towards purchasing.

Whether the baking trick works or not, it’s no secret that sensory perception influences our actions. The theory that ‘presentation is everything’ when it comes to food preparation is a testament to this fact, particularly in advertising. As long as it looks good; people will want to eat it. The multitude of television and print ads featuring steaming steaks and pancakes dripping with syrup and butter from one restaurant franchise or another, tell us that it obviously must be working. Hungry yet?

So we know that our sense of smell and sight can persuade our judgment and decision making, but what about our sense of touch? Will mere contact, physical warmth even, bring on feelings and thoughts influencing our opinions, either positive or negative?

This question was answered through a study done by researcher and psychologist, John Bargh. In his study, Bargh’s test subjects handled either an iced cup of coffee or a warm cup of coffee and were later asked to give their impressions of a hypothetical person. Surprisingly, those who held the warm cup of coffee attributed “warmer” personality characteristics to this theoretical person and, you guessed it, those who held the cold cup of coffee attributed “colder” feelings toward the imaginary person. To explain, Bargh says our mind relies greatly on our body, through our senses, for information about the world and about our own perceptions.

So what does WarmlyYours have to do with sensory experiences?

Comfort is practically synonymous with WarmlyYours since all of our products promote warmth and that sense of well being. We know that our senses bias our thoughts and feelings, so it’s no secret that the effect of warmth can produce that comforting and warm sensation inside; the way a fireplace or a hot beverage can on a cold night. Touching something warm and being near a heat source helps us to feel calm and secure, therefore, having a positive effect on our temperament. Maybe that’s why WarmlyYours products are so popular for people wanting a relaxing and radiant experience they don’t have to leave home to get. Because of our radiant comfort product suite (from towel warmers to floor heating systems), with a mere touch, any frequently cool disposition could change right into a sunny one!

To read more about these findings, read the Wall Street Journal article.