Well, we really went down the rabbit hole on this one. This topic has so many ins and outs that we could write an infinite number of articles about on the different aspects. Let’s start by defining what neuromarketing actually is. You can probably guess, it combines neuroscience and marketing techniques. Neuromarketing studies the neurological responses, including brainwave activity, eye tracking and skin changes to certain marketing stimuli in order to better understand consumer behaviors. It’s fairly new and has only been around since the early 2000’s. Once considered controversial, it is now starting to be viewed as promising, since scientifically it has improved greatly over the past five years and it can be used to test product design, UX testing, A/B testing, CTA, images in ads, rebrand campaigns etc. let’s jump into some of the techniques used to track and what insight each offers to brands and advertisers.
First, let’s talk about the technique of fMRI or functional magnetic resonance imaging. Here’s how it works. It detects changes in blood oxygenation and flow in response to neural activity and can produce activation area maps that show which parts of the brain are being used for particular processes. It can give insight into emotional responses, levels of engagement and brand recall. Although fascinating, it can be a costly and more invasive method of neuromarketing research.
The second method is through the use of an EEG also known as electroencephalogram. Say that ten times fast. The way this test works is through little metal disks attached with thin wires that detect small electrical charges as a result from activity in the brain. It’s like a light-weight mesh, metal hat worn that detects abnormalities in brain waves in response to marketing stimuli. It then prints out a graph and will shows the level of engagement and brand recall for consumers. It can be used to improve ads and branding but is also expensive. It’s not as precise at fMRI but slightly less invasive. The last four methods are much less costly and easy to administer.
Eye tracking. There are two tests that can be done through eye tracking methods. The first is the gaze. It shows exactly where consumers gaze goes and will tell what grabs their attention, what confuses them and the speed of recognition. This can be used to improve designs, ads and packaging. The second type of eye tracking is called pupillometry. This measures pupil dilatation and can show each level of engagement. It’s uses are the same as tracking gaze. It’s quite inexpensive and easy to do. The downfall is that it doesn’t measure emotional responses.
The next technique is tracking biometrics. This is the skin changes we were talking about in the definition of neuromarketing. It tracks the galvanic skin response or skin conductance. You’re probably asking yourself the same thing we were when we heard this term. What in the world is this? GSR is the variation of the electrical conductance of the skin in response to skin secretion and this is how it works. There are electrodes that are placed on the fingers that apply a low, undetectable and constant voltage to the skin. They measure how the conductance varies, which is connected to internal temperature aroused by emotional responses. Biometrics also measures heart rate and respiration. Therefore, biometrics solely focuses on monitoring emotional responses. This tells advertisers and brands whether a positive or negative emotion is occurring as well as their level of engagement.
Lastly, facial coding identifies facial expressions to denote a general emotional response, such as happiness, surprise, confusion, etc. This method really speaks for itself and is inexpensive as well. As one can see this is a fascinating field of marketing science that can be very beneficial to advertisers and brands. It can provide insight at a much higher level to expose consumer preference and tendency. The data is more reliable because the test subjects cannot provide false information and it can reveal subconscious revelations that maybe not even the consumers are aware of. We find this science quite fascinating! We would love to see what it would tell us about the emotional response of found content campaigns. Although we find it alluring, many people have concerns. Some see it as a manipulative pseudoscience that can provide no new information. That being said, we feel that it could be extremely useful to marketers, advertisers and brands if used in ethical ways.
