How can that apply to marketing? 

This summer our agency did research for a client, testing a couple direct mail samples. One direct mail piece was quite a bit larger than the other. When the groups were first shown the samples, the vast majority chose the larger piece. Participants were attracted to its big pictures. However, when they held the direct mail pieces, they all chose the smaller piece. Why the switch? The smaller piece was printed on a nicer, heavier stock of paper. The larger piece was printed on glossy newsprint. Participants commented that the cheap newsprint cheapened the message. The message didn’t seem as important on cheaper paper. 

That is the power of touch.

A casino client of ours held an extremely successful direct mail promotion by mailing two playing cards—your hand for a game of Texas Hold ‘Em. Recipients were told to come in and see if their hand could beat the casino’s hand. The promotion was wildly successful in large part because customers were touching actual cards.

The touch in their hand made it more valuable.

Savvy retailers do this with scratch cards, mailing them to customers and inviting them to have them scratched in-store. It’s hard to resist when its in your hand. That is the power of touch.

Now before you take an all “hands-on” approach to marketing, remember what the second researchers said,  "We also find that when touch is unavailable, such as shopping online, having people imagine owning a product increases their perception of ownership and how much they are willing to pay for a product."

Imagination is also a powerful tool. Lotteries have us imagine being a millionaire. You can have people imagine a night out having fun at the casino!  

Think about how you could use touch to improve your marketing—physically or with imagination.