The Critical Role of Scent in Hair Care: Consumer Survey
Eighty-two percent of sureveyed consumers smell their hair care products before they purchase most of or all the time; photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash.

The Critical Role of Scent in Hair Care: Consumer Survey

By: Denise Herich, The Benchmarking Company

More than other beauty product category, the smell of hair care products matters a great deal to beauty buyers.

In a recent study of more than 4,000 U.S. female beauty buyers, 82% said they smell their hair care products prior to buying either always or most of the time. Twelve percent say they sometimes smell a hair care product prior to purchase and only seven percent say they rarely or never do so.

Scent plays a starring role in her decision to purchase a hair care product, as both a motivator and major purchase influencer. When asked to name the top aspects of a hair care brand that influence her decision to buy, scent was the sixth most influential, even before a friend or family recommendation.

>>>Read or download the full survey, complete with data tables.<<<

In fact, based on the degree of importance in hair care purchase decisions, the smell of the product was number one, with 71% of consumers rating smell as 4-5 on a 1-5 level of importance (5 being the highest) when making a buying hair care decision, as seen below:

  • Smell: 71% (4-5)
  • Luxurious lather: 53%
  • Texture: 49%
  • How it is dispensed (form factor: jar/bottle): 50%

The smell of a hair care product was also listed as the fifth most important buying motivator for a hair care product they’ve not purchased previously, even outranking the motivator of "pure need" or that the product itself is sustainably made.

Favorite Hair Care Scents

Beauty buyers love fresh, fruity and citrus scents; these notes ranked in the top five for both fragrance as a whole, and for the scent they’d like in their hair care products. Coconut-scented hair care products are a favorite as well, as are floral aromas. The full rankings are below:

  1. Fresh: 42%
  2. Coconut: 37%
  3. Fruity: 26%
  4. Citrus: 23%
  5. Light flowers: 22%
  6. Floral: 19%
  7. Spring/clean: 18%
  8. Lavender: 16%
  9. Energizing: 15%
  10. Honey: 9%

Only 6% of U.S. consumers prefer no scent at all in their hair care products.

>>>Read or download the full survey, complete with data tables.<<<

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