Designing a sensory protocol for immersive customer experiences

Immersive customer experiences are multiplying: pop-up stores, olfactory journeys, multi-sensory rooms. But behind the spectacular effects, methodological rigor is often sorely lacking. How can we build a true sensory analysis protocol for these experiences, especially in spaces like The Room for the Senses ?

The illusion of "wow" without method

In France, as elsewhere, we're seeing a proliferation of immersive experiences marketed as the panacea for customer engagement: light tunnels, scent diffusion, 3D sound, hidden fans to simulate wind. From a scenographic standpoint, they're sometimes very successful. But in terms of measurement, they're often just hot air, both literally and figuratively.

Without a solid protocol, you get decontextualized "it was great" or "meh." It's impossible to know what really works, which sensory combinations influence behavior, or what can be transferred to points of sale, digital journeys, or services.

News: The rise of immersive venues and the pressure of proof

Since 2023-2024, museums, luxury brands, retail chains, and even hospitals in France have been experimenting with immersive experiences. Budgets are increasing, and so are expectations. Very quickly, senior management is demanding proof: impact on sales, brand recall, brand loyalty, and the well-being of patients and staff.

The pioneers who work with rooms like The Room for the Senses have understood this well: without a methodology that borrows from sensory analysis and behavioral sciences, these places will remain expensive gadgets.

Clarify the objective: what exactly are we measuring?

Before plugging in any projector, you must answer a rather blunt question: what are you trying to measure? Three main types of lenses often come up:

• Understanding how a sensory environment influences the perception of a product or service;
• Optimize an immersive customer journey before deploying it on a large scale;
• Exploring new forms of experiences for creativity, training, and well-being.

The protocol will differ depending on whether you're seeking near-experimental validation or a more open-ended exploration. But in all cases, there are some minimum rules to follow if you want to avoid unnecessary complications.

The building blocks of a serious sensory protocol in an immersive room

1 - Mastering the room parameters

An immersive room like The Room for the Senses offers an impressive array of tools: light, video, sound, smells, temperature, wind, mist, and sometimes connected objects. The temptation is to change everything all the time. Bad idea.

To build a robust protocol, you need to:

• document each configuration precisely (scenario A, B, C...);
• only vary a few parameters at a time;
• stabilize the room between sessions (temperature, residual odors, basic noise level).

Here we find the same logic as for a sensory analysis booth such as the Full Lab : the environment becomes a measurement tool, not a decorative whim.

2 - Define metrics combining feelings and behavior

In an immersive customer experience, relying solely on a satisfaction score at the end is woefully inadequate. At least three levels of data must be combined:

1. Immediate sensations : comfort, enjoyment, perceived immersion, key emotions;
2. Behavioral responses : time spent, choices made between several areas or routes, spontaneous interactions;
3. Memory traces : what people remember a few days later.

The tools vary: short questionnaires at the exit of the room, filmed observations (with consent, of course), qualitative interviews, or even delayed recall tests. But they must be considered together, from the very design of the protocol, and not cobbled together afterward.

3 - Carefully select and prepare the participants

Another common pitfall is to mix end customers, internal employees, and partners in the same study without explicitly stating this, and then draw general conclusions. However, these groups have neither the same expectations nor the same understanding of the issues.

It is preferable to:

• define one or two types of participants per study (target customers, sales teams, designers, etc.);
• prepare a briefing that is simple but clear, so as not to skew expectations (avoid saying "you are going to have an incredible experience");
• plan debriefing times adapted to each person's culture (a marketing director will not open up like an anonymous visitor).

Combining immersion and sensory analysis booths

One of the strengths of devices like those of The Lab in the Bag is precisely to allow this articulation: an immersive room to contextualize, mobile booths to finely isolate certain effects.

Typical scenario: from the overall atmosphere to the precise judgment

Imagine a brand that wants to test two immersive customer journeys for a premium cosmetics universe:

1. Participants first experience the complete experience in the immersive room (light, sounds, smells, product staging);
2. Upon exiting, they are invited, individually, into an analysis booth to blindly evaluate certain key stimuli: distinct scents, textures, and sounds;
3. We then compare their "isolated" judgments in the cabin with their overall feelings during immersion.

We thus discover that a particular fragrance, perfect in the bottle, becomes overpowering in the room, or that a certain texture, deemed neutral in the lab, is perceived as reassuring in a simulated spa environment. This interplay between micro and macro is the key to a methodology that sacrifices neither subtlety nor realism.

Use case: an immersive journey for a healthcare service

A Parisian hospital (a fictional case inspired by real projects) wants to rethink the patient reception process in oncology. It has temporary access to an immersive room similar to The Room for the Senses.

Rather than simply brainstorming, the project team designs three scenarios:

• a very clean, almost minimalist experience, with neutral lighting and soothing sounds;
• a warmer experience, inspired by an apartment, with soft smells and muffled sounds of life;
• an intermediate route, closer to a discreet art gallery.

Patients, caregivers, and family members tested these three scenarios. Initial impressions were gathered immediately, and then certain elements (sounds, smells) were more thoroughly evaluated in a mobile sensory booth set up in an adjacent room. The results revealed that the "warm" scenario was appreciated but too stimulating for some fatigued patients; the "gallery" scenario created a distance deemed uncomfortable. Ultimately, a mix of minimalism and a few touches of sensory warmth was chosen. Without a structured protocol, the most dramatic scenario would likely have been chosen.

Mistakes to absolutely avoid

Everything constantly changing during the study

Changing the lighting, sound, and smells for each group without a clear experimental plan is tantamount to sabotaging your own data. You must resist the urge to constantly tweak things. Define a few well-contrasted scenarios, test them thoroughly, and only then iterate.

Confusing test and spectacle

The more spectacular the experience, the harder it is for participants to give nuanced feedback. Some will over-positively out of politeness or awe, while others will react defensively to what they perceive as a gimmick. Hence the value of evaluation sessions in more neutral conditions, for example in a booth, to restore balance.

Forget about the constraints of actual deployment

An immersive room protocol must always keep transposition in mind: what you create in a controlled space must be adaptable to a store, a museum, a spa, or a hospital lobby. Testing a scenario impossible to implement on a full scale (overly intense odors, unmanageable maintenance, exorbitant costs) makes little sense, except for pure exploration.

Towards a culture of sensory evidence in customer experience

Ultimately, designing a good sensory protocol for immersive experiences means accepting that "feeling" is not a monolithic entity. There are layers: emotion, comfort, understanding, memory, behavior. Multi-sensory rooms and analysis booths now provide the technical means to seriously explore these layers. The remaining challenge is to make the political choice to use them for purposes other than mere scenery.

For those considering an immersive project—whether for research, marketing, training, or healthcare—the best starting point is likely a joint exploration of the Immersive Solutions and Products pages, which demonstrate how these components work together. The challenge then lies in clearly defining the protocol that so many stakeholders still improvise. While this may not necessarily add glamour, it does offer greater authenticity. And in this field, that's rarely a bad thing.