There's More to Touch Than Meets the Eye

By Michael McKloskey (BBA '03)

The marketing department at the School of Business has been given the golden touch thanks to an innovative research project conducted by Joann Peck, assistant professor in marketing, and PhD candidate Jennifer Wiggins. Their research examines the influence of touch on persuasion when the ability to touch does not give product related information. Their findings show haptic (touch) elements can increase the vividness and persuasiveness of an appeal.

In previous research, Peck developed a "Need for Touch" (NFT) scale that measures a person's affinity for touching and determines the degree to which a haptic appeal will be more engaging for an individual. There are two dimensions of the scale: autotelic (touch for fun) and instrumental (touch to gather information). Peck's most recent research focuses on autotelic dimension and how touch can be used to persuade.

Peck and Wiggins conducted two experiments with Madison area organizations. The first was conducted with the Madison Children's Museum. Peck's team sent a museum brochure with a cartoon dinosaur on the cover to children in the area. Half of the brochures featured a dinosaur with a faux fur dot; the other half did not. The next field experiment was done with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and featured a velvet band around half of the brochures. Included in both brochures were a series of questions that first tried to evaluate the attractiveness of the brochure to the individual, then tried to assess where that person placed on the Need for Touch scale.

The research illustrated that the usefulness of abstract appeals (appeals that do not give product information or that are non-instrumental) depend on where an individual falls in terms of autotelic NFT. For those people who like to touch things, including a touch element is more persuasive; but, for people who do not take great pleasure in their sense of touch, the touch element is only effective in increasing persuasion when the appeal is low-involvement. Take for example, a direct mail piece; typically not processed carefully. People who are low in Need for Touch found the touch element of an appeal to be only a peripheral cue.

In general, those who are high in need for touch will nearly always be more attracted and persuaded by a touch element. For those with a low need for touch, Peck discovered a connection between the organization and the use of touch in promotional material when the involvement level is higher. She found that when an organization employs a touch element in a promotion, if that element does not fit with the organization or the message of the promotion, the attitude of people with a low need for touch was negatively affected by its use.

Both Peck and Wiggins hope that their research will lead more people to investigate the relationship between the sense of touch and marketing. Although in recent years the new wave of marketing has been through the digital universe, recognizing touch elements as an effective promotional tool could set one's business apart in an already-cluttered media environment. This research has shown that touch information, even if is not directly tied to the product offering, can be persuasive depending on the attention directly paid to the promotion and the fit of the touch element with the general message.

Peck is the first to conduct this kind of research on touch in reaching consumers effectively. While she believes more research is needed, her current findings have already generated significant interest.

Michael McKloskey is an intern in the external relations office of the School of Business .