What Are the Effects of Music on Purchasing Behavior?

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The Parts of Music That Impact Psychology the Most

A lot of research has been done regarding specific types of music and their impact on listeners or shoppers. Overall, we’ve found four music qualities that impact a shopper’s mood or behavior most.

Tempo

Tempo refers to how fast or slow the beat of a song is, typically measured per minute.

Studies dating back to the 1980s have reported that fast music creates different psychological effects compared to slow music, including for retail shoppers. A 1982 study found that playing slow music in a store led to more time spent browsing merchandise, which translated into a 32 percent increase in sales.

In 1999, the role of business music in the restaurant environment was examined. Researchers found that faster music led to customers eating faster while slower music led to more time spent at the table, which increased how much alcohol the diners purchased. Restaurants have benefitted both from increased sales with slower music to more rapid table turnover from faster music.

Volume

Volume refers to how loudly or softly (quietly) music is being played. So how loud should your business’s music be?

Typically, louder music causes shoppers to spend less time in stores compared to softer background music. Why? Loud music can cause patrons to feel uncomfortable in their environment and leave more quickly. That means less revenue.

Age is also correlated to volume preference. Usually, younger people prefer louder music while older adults prefer softer or gentler music.

Genre

Preference for musical genre tends to be pretty personal. Each of us enjoys varying genres of music, many of us more than one!

As a business owner, choosing just one genre can be tough. Some studies have found that playing classical music leads to higher sales numbers, and that Christmas music is associated with buying more during the Christmas season. Jazz and lounge music appear to influence shoppers to spend more money while other genres do not often have this effect.

Your best bet is to focus on music for business that resonates most with your shoppers’ typical demographic. Try to find commonalities in your buyers’ age, gender, hobbies, interests and passions. That’ll give you a good starting point when choosing a popular genre they will enjoy.

Mode

A 2011 study on tempo of music added that mode also influenced how much shoppers spent in stores. Mode refers to the harmony or melody of the music which causes it to be perceived as happy or sad.

When music is in a major scale, for example, it’s associated with happiness. However, when the mode was sad – perhaps in a minor scale – and the tempo was slower, shoppers purchased more. We think this is because the combination of specific modes, tempos and more can feel familiar.

Successfully Combining Aspects of Music to Create a Beautiful Shopping Environment

Every aspect of music can have an impact on its own. Depending on the type of business you manage, the combination of these can deeply impact how customers shop.

There have been some specific studies on the effects of music on purchasing behavior in different environments. Here are some examples of the impacts music had in various industries:

Spending on wine

One study of background music in a wine store showed that shoppers’ perception of the wine was different based on the music played. Customers purchased more French wine on days when French music was aired. When German music was played, shoppers bought German wines. Amazingly, when asked, shoppers reported no influence from the music on their purchases. It’s incredible how subliminal the influence of a music genre can be!

A second wine shop study found that classical music played in a wine shop influenced shoppers to purchase more expensive wines. Though they spent more per bottle, they didn’t buy more wine on the whole.

Curiously, when Top 40 hits were played, there was no clear impact on purchasing behavior.

Food choices

A Scottish study involving 120 participants found that music from different cultures impacted food choices most. Participants were separated into four rooms. Three played music – American, Chinese, and Indian pop music. The fourth room had no music playing.

In this study, diners were offered a menu with several items from these countries. They were asked to examine the menu for a few minutes, recall as many of the menu items as they could, and order one as though they were in a restaurant.

When participants were listening to specific culture’s music, they tended to remember items from that culture more often. They then ordered that culture’s associated food. For example, participants listening to American music tended to remember menu items like hamburgers and fries, and they ordered those most often.

Price influence

Music genres have also been found to impact how consumers value items – including how much they will pay.

In one study, 180 participants viewed slides of both luxury items and utilitarian items. Think cologne and gold-studded earrings, then toothbrushes and disposable pens respectively.

While listening to classical music, study participants were willing to pay more for luxury items compared to utilitarian items. However, when listening to country music, participants reported they would pay more for utilitarian items over luxury items. Background music that complements products can increase how much money consumers spend in-store.

Purchasing intent

A 2008 study found that happy music tended to increase consumers’ buying intent compared to sad music. Another 2009 study found that family-centric music in some women’s clothing stores increased the shoppers’ intent to purchase items and to return to the store. A 2012 study found that background music played after browsing a bookstore increased positive feelings about the store.

Overwhelmingly, music can impact how long a shopper stays in the store, how long they perceive they have been in the store, how much they buy, and how much they spend. Creating the perfect playlist with music for retail stores for your shopping demographic can greatly influence how new and returning customers perceive your products and services.

How Music Affects the Brain

Listening to music has a huge impact on your overall health. Music stimulates a range of brain regions. It can improve your memory, breathing, blood pressure, and mood. Music with a predictable meter can supplement a good “workout” – reducing inflammation, aging, and stress.

Here are some of the major benefits researchers have found for listening to music:

Reduced mental illness symptoms

Musical engagement triggers pleasure centers and releases dopamine, which is important not only for feeling happy in the short term, but also for improved mental health and stress levels in the long term.

People with anxiety and depression experience lower levels of stress and symptoms associated with their mood disorder when they listen to music.
People over 50 years old who were actively engaged with music — listening to music, dancing to music, or playing music — report higher levels of overall happiness and improved cognition.

Improved learning

Early exposure to music can also improve memory. For example, a survey of people who were exposed to music more often as children found that 68 percent of those individuals reported their ability to learn new things as “excellent” or “very good.” Additionally, music has been found to improve imagination, helping the brain recap memories and past events, along with anticipating the future.

Boosted immunity

Your immune system responds to music by boosting the presence of some antibodies, like immunoglobulin A. It also triggers higher counts of other immune-related cells, which fight against microbial invaders.

Reduced brain aging and degeneration

Several studies have suggested that music improves memory and cognition. These improvements can last a lifetime, including reducing symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

Music has also been associated with reducing seizures, changing the ability to perceive time, improving communication, repairing brain damage, and recalling memories.

The PAD Model

The PAD Model refers to Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance. The PAD Model includes three components regarding an individual’s experiences listening to music:

Pleasure: rating an individual’s experiences of music on a pleasure-displeasure scale, referring to their experience of emotions
Arousal: the degree to which the individual feels stimulated, active, and alert in their environment
Dominance: on a dominance-submissiveness spectrum, the degree to which the individual feels they have control over their environment

Most research into music’s effect on the brain focuses on pleasure and arousal. Many studies assess participants’ experiences of feeling good or uncomfortable in an environment. Or, they assess the degree to which music influences the person’s physical energy.

But dominance over one’s environment can also influence the experience of feeling happy or anxious, and high energy or low energy. Several studies suggest people prefer feeling in control over their environment, producing a sense of pleasure. This association occurred whether the person felt relaxed and lower energy, or perkier and higher-energy.

Studies also suggest that a person’s location, activity, and feeling of dominance were significant predictors for an individual’s assessment of music. The person’s surrounding environment can also influence their experience of music.

How Pandora CloudCover Can Help

These studies can work for your business as well.

Pandora CloudCover helps you gain legal access to a huge range of music through curated playlists. These business playlists can not only improve your customers’ activity in their nucleus accumbens, but they influence their mood, walking speed, and spending potential.

Try it free for 14 days. Terms and conditions apply.