A few years ago, I went fishing on a Saturday and returned home with a healthy catch. Unfortunately, I also had to fillet the fish, which I am terrible at doing. I make an absolute mess of it.
When I was done, there were more fish heads, guts and wasted flesh than fillet. At that moment, it occurred to me that rubbish collection wasn’t scheduled until Thursday, basically five days away.
The thought horrified me because I realised what a stench the bin would exude within a day. Yes, I know, freezing the waste did not occur to me.
So, I packed all the fish guts up in a shopping bag, tied it real tight and walked up the road to one of the public litter bins. Yes, to my eternal shame, I dumped the fish entrails into a public litter bin and didn’t think about it again.
Monday morning, I drove up the hill on my way to work. At that point, I realised the bin I had chosen was at a bus stop, and all the morning commuters were clustered in a tight group at least a good 20 metres away. And nobody was smiling.
As funny as the sight was, it was at this point that I felt a pang of guilt.
Smell affects people strongly because it links directly to the brain’s emotion and memory centres. It may be the most evocative sense. While sight and hearing may dominate day-to-day living, smell often shapes how people feel. That mix of biology and memory likely makes scent unusually influential.
The story illustrates the link between senses and emotions. Your customers use multiple senses, often subconsciously, when evaluating whether to do business with you, and this leads them to an emotional decision.
People react before they think
Marketing works the same way. Customers pick up signals that businesses do not notice, and they react before they reason. Something feels off. Something does not sit right. Something smells fishy.
Three overlooked areas tend to cause this:
1. Inconsistent information
When a customer finds different prices, service descriptions, or claims across your website, socials, and conversations, the mismatch creates unease.
They may not analyse it, but they sense the gap. The solution is simple, but hard to do. Align the facts across all channels and keep them up to date.
2. Weak follow-through
Many businesses put effort into the first touch but drop the ball after. Slow replies, vague updates, or silence during delivery create doubt.
Customers will not always say it outright, but they feel the drift. The answer is to map the customer journey and set clear expectations at each step. Then honour them.
3. Unclear proof
Claims without evidence smell wrong. People look for signs that you can do what you say. Case studies, names, outcomes, and third-party mentions form the scent trail that reassures them. Without it, they rely on instinct, and instinct is wary. To fix this, publish concrete, recent, and easy-to-find proof.
The lesson from that fishy morning still holds. Customers always sense what the business overlooks. They smell the truth long before they see it.