Without realizing it, a few small factors can dramatically affect your day. A rude driver can put you in a foul mood, or the smell of donuts can convince you to treat yourself. Your whole day could be decided just by a few minor stimuli.
Your customers are no different.
When they walk into your financial institution, they already have perceptions of your brand and how they feel at that moment. With a few sensory decisions, you can confirm their biases or create a positive environment. It’s all up to how you present yourselves.
One key way you can change your customer’s behavior is with auditory stimulation. Music has the power to rewire the brain and affect how people think and act. If you don’t have overhead music in your financial institution, then you could be missing out on a powerful tool.
Here’s why banks, loan offices, and other organizations need to use finance overhead music.
Music Affects Customers Throughout the Day
From a pumping car radio to the music played through a phone alarm, most people interact with different songs throughout the day. As a society, we love music and make it an essential part of our lives. According to Fast Company, 83 percent believe doing chores is easier when listening to music and 58% of people think music makes food taste better.
While these are certainly entertaining statistics, they can be used to help your customers. For example, music makes people 12% calmer and 25% less crabby.
Just by playing music in your financial institution, you make your customers happier and create a more positive experience.
Think about the first impression you create with your business. If you’re looking to establish a calm and positive situation the second your customers walk through the door, then playing music is one of the easiest ways to accomplish your goals.
Music Changes Perceived Customer Wait Times
Scientists are just starting to realize the effects music has on the human brain. Even minor details within a song can determine how people react to it.
Studies at the University of Cincinnati have found that customers perceive time differently when they’re exposed to different music forms. For example, upbeat or engaging music can make wait times seem shorter. Customers might be more willing to wait in line or on the phone because they only feel like it’s been a few minutes. However, other forms of background music can stretch time, like generic waiting music or elevator music.
Interestingly, the lyrics of the music you choose can also have an effect on customer behavior.
Music with positive lyrics and messages about sharing or being at peace can move customers to feel more relaxed and be patient with others.
(Even more on the power of music: upbeat office music can make employees more cooperative, and music in hospitals can have a healing effect.)
These studies highlight the importance of hand-curating content for your business or choosing curated songs through a professional service. The right music choices can encourage customers to wait longer (without thinking they are) and approach your staff in a positive manner — while the wrong selections can make them annoyed and ready to lash out or leave. Combined with other stimuli in your branch, like customized financial digital signage, music can even make waiting fun and informative.
Music Connects Customers to Your Brand
The finance industry has changed over the past few years. While many institutions want to present their brand as prestigious and trustworthy, more companies are changing their branding to better connect with younger customers.
Financial concepts can be confusing for many people, and customers often feel intimidated when discussing their options or feel like they don’t have enough money to be treated well by financial organizations. Companies want to change this and are working to make their financial institutions inviting places to visit.
One way financial brands are making customers feel more connected is through music branding. Seven in ten consumers say music helps them relate and connect to a store’s brand. Additionally, half of US consumers say hearing music in a store puts them at ease.
By playing uplifting music that relaxes your customers and invites them in, you can encourage them to ask questions about their financial situations. They might feel more comfortable trusting you with their problems or at least, feel more open to learning more about their financial options.
Overhead Music Helps Customer Acquisition and Growth
When asked about the top ten goals for finance marketing professionals, 49% of industry leaders said they wanted to deepen relationships with customers and increase products-per-household. Meanwhile, 42% said new customer acquisition was also a priority.
When your customers walk into your financial institution, your goal is to keep them coming back and (ideally) to increase how they work with your company.
The right finance overhead music can create an environment where customers are open to doing more business with you.
Consider some of the other top goals for finance marketing professionals:
- 21% want to grow a younger audience of millennial consumers
- 19% want to improve brand awareness
- 15% want to reduce customer churn and boost retention
We’ve seen earlier how music affects customer perception and behavior, meaning it’s a perfect fit for achieving these goals.
Between branding goals, changing target audiences, and customer retention strategies, most financial organizations can’t afford to overlook overhead music as part of their customer care tools.
Get Start With Finance Overhead Music Today
At Spectrio, we follow the latest data about music and behavior and adjust our products to meet your needs.
In particular, we offer highly customizable music solutions that you can easily adjust based on your industry, target audience, and brand goals. All of the royalties are covered in our music services, so you can focus on choosing the best songs from thousands of artists to play overhead.
If you don’t like a particular song in your overhead music playlist, you can simply remove it. If you want to change genres or playlists throughout the day, we can do that. Music is a tool to achieve your marketing and in-store sensory goals, and we’re here to help you achieve them.