What do you think of more often? Your summer holiday or something nice you bought for yourself? A study found that 83% of respondents mentally revisited their experiential purchases more frequently than their material purchases. When doing so, individuals experienced elevated mood (relative to those contemplating a past material purchase). Buying an experience was able to produce more lasting hedonic benefits.

Why? Much of the research on this topic points to the fact that we adapt quicker to things than to experiences. Things don’t change over time (in most cases), and therefore, you are likely not to see it anymore; it has become normal. Think about that new floor that you’ve bought. Although you might experience happiness in the beginning, quickly your floor becomes nothing more than the unnoticed ground beneath your feet. In contrast, each session of a year-long cooking class is different from the one before. Therefore, we don’t adapt to it so quickly and will be able to recognize and register it. In addition, experiences are often shared with others, and as people are our greatest source of happiness and meaning in life, they contribute big time to our happiness and experience of meaning.

Experiences have long been around in the world of marketing and for a good reason. By focusing on the experiences people can have with your products and services and also enabling people to experience those, brands can create lasting value for themselves and people.