Capturing product experiences: a split-modality approach

When people interact with products, all sensory modalities are open to receive information. To assess each modality's potential contribution to overall product experiences, we developed a split-modality approach, in which subjects experienced real-life products through only one modality: vision, touch, audition, or olfaction. Responses focused on (1) description of the sensory experience, (2) product identification, and (3) descriptions of associations and memories linked to this experience. Visual and tactual information were most detailed, made product identification easiest, and yielded the clearest memories of past events, associations to persons, and associations with other products. Because vision may have an advantage over touch by the speed with which information is processed, vision is likely to dominate product experiences in real-life situations.