The Roles of Congruence and Likability: Scent Factors in Hygiene Product Perceptions

Overview

Scent is a vital avenue through which products are evaluated by consumers. There are mixed findings on whether likability of a product’s scent or congruence of the product’s scent with its purpose are more influential on consumers’ opinions, but both are utilized in product marketing. This study aims to evaluate the impacts of both congruence and likability of scents within personal hygiene products in consumers’ functional and emotional impressions of the product, as well as how scent will influence their consumption habits of a product in order to comprehend what kind of scent will optimize a personal hygiene product and consumers’ experience using it. In this study ten participants rated three shampoo and conditioner sets after three uses of each. One set was unscented, serving as the control. The other two were a scent that the participants had stated was likable and a scent that the participants found congruent. It was hypothesized that both qualities would impact product opinions, with congruency having the most positive impact on functional ratings, likable scents having the most positive impact on emotional ratings, and consumers ultimately preferring the congruently scented product. While this study indicates effects of scent likability were statistically insignificant on product perception, it also found congruence to be an influential aspect of consumers’ impressions of a product, particularly for emotional aspects like perceived luxury, pleasure derived from product use, and consumption habits, including a likelihood of continued usage and recommendation to another.

Competition history

• AJAS 2026 Category not listed

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