Describing olfactory experiences presents a unique cognitive challenge, particularly in text-only digital environments. This study investigates the interplay between cultural norms and technological affordances in shaping the linguistic encoding of sensory experiences within electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Adopting an abductive text-mining approach, we analysed online perfume reviews across three linguistic communities: English (N = 530), Russian (N = 730), and Chinese (N = 906). Initial exploratory lexical analysis revealed distinct, culturally rooted communication styles: English reviews prioritised hedonic affect, Russian reviews favoured technical ‘perfumista’ jargon, and Chinese reviews emphasised pragmatic concreteness. However, subsequent psychological profiling using LIWC-22 revealed a cross-cultural convergence. A one-way ANOVA found no statistically significant differences in psychological profiles across the three datasets. Further analysis of the pooled data identified a clear semantic hierarchy: Cognition > Perception > Affect and Social Processes > Lifestyle and Physical. These findings suggest that digital platform affordances may impose a deep, genre-specific cognitive schema that transcends cultural defaults, while cultural sensibilities are retained at the surface lexical level. These findings have theoretical implications for computer-mediated communication studies and practical implications for digital marketing practice.