Understanding Neuromarketing
For marketers, understanding and deciphering consumer behavior has always been the ultimate objective. For a long time, the standard operating procedure for probing the minds of potential customers was to use surveys, focus groups, and other forms of direct questioning. These methods often yielded useful, if not always reliable, data about the surface kinds of things that influence decisions. But the real “why” behind consumer behavior—especially the types of behavior that are directed not just toward one brand but toward one kind of decision over another—remains something of a mystery, even for the most seasoned market researchers. Enter neuromarketing, with its potent mix of neuroscience, psychology, and marketing science. Neuromarketing basically guarantees two things: a better understanding of what customers really want and the kinds of decisions they make when under the influence of various internal and external “triggers.”
How is Neuromarketing Different from Traditional Marketing Research?
Traditional marketing research, such as surveys and focus groups, depends a lot on what people say about themselves. The problem with these methods is that consumers aren’t always capable—or willing—to say what their true motivations are. Neuromarketing gets around this limitation by measuring the bodily responses of people who can’t—or won’t—say what they really mean. For example, brain scans can show how people emotionally respond to different brands, while simple webcams can see which part of a website is looked at first. Neuromarketing gets the most direct and obvious meaning out of its measurements, making its insights more precise and actionable.
What Neuroscience Contributes to Marketing
The foundation of neuromarketing is neuroscience, the scientific study of how the brain and nervous system function. The contribution of neuroscience to the field of marketing is the decoding of the automatic mental processes that direct our decisions. When a “decision” is made, we are not always aware that it has occurred. For example, the brain has been shown to “commit to a decision” several seconds before a person is conscious that they have made a choice. Tracking our neural activity and noting physiological signals allow neuroscientists to understand how certain stimuli—words, colors, or sounds—evoke strong feelings, create trust, or conjure up audience memories.
Basic Methods of Neuromarketing
The advanced technology of neuromarketing is by no means a single entity. Rather, it consists of several distinct yet complementary technologies that collectively offer a more comprehensive view of how people think, feel, and act—especially when it comes to their responses to marketing stimuli.
At the Forefront of Neuroscience
Navigating the Brain with fMRI
One of our most powerful and sophisticated instruments for examining the living brain is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). With this tool, neuroscience can achieve heightened experimental power—both with respect to brain structures that can be studied and the kinds of inferences about brain functions that can be made. When using fMRI, a scientist can see which parts of the normal, healthy human brain light up (increase in activity) when a person is engaged in a particular thought or task. For marketers, this task might be “What do you think of this ad?”
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
The EEG follows the electrical signals of the brain by using sensors on the scalp. It registers the very fast (milliseconds) reactions between stimuli and the brain, such as when someone sees a logo or hears a jingle. While the fMRI is a more powerful tool for looking inside the brain, it is also far more expensive, making EEG a better candidate for understanding “normal” brain behavior when used in real-world situations.
Eye-Tracking
One field of studying consumer behavior is eye-tracking, which monitors where a consumer’s gaze falls and how long they pay attention to specific elements on a screen, advertisement, or physical product. For example, heat maps generated through eye-tracking can show marketers which parts of a website attract the most (or least) attention, enabling them to optimize layouts for conversions.
Facial coding is the method of interpreting micro-expressions—of which there are 47 types—that people make when they are trying to conceal or mask their true emotions. Facial coders watch people interact with stimuli, such as new advertising concepts or product packaging, and then use the data they collect to figure out what parts of the stimulus are causing the particular facial expression (emotional reaction).
The measurement of biometrics
When measuring biometrics, devices that might track heart rate, skin conductivity, or respiration can give clues about emotional arousal. High arousal might indicate excitement or stress, depending on the context. For instance, a faster heart rate during a TV commercial might suggest that the ad is engaging while, conversely, sweaty palms might hint at some kind of discomfort, with the commercial not being received as well.
How Business Strategies Are Changed by Neuromarketing
Neuromarketing has the potential to completely alter the course of business because it is able to predict, with great accuracy, how consumers will behave. Using this knowledge, businesses can refine their campaigns, products, and overall user experience to create something with “maximum impact.”
Boosting the Punch of Ads
An advertisement must elicit emotional responses or trigger memories to remain memorable. Neuromarketing tools, like brain scans and eye-tracking, can show how well an ad achieves these goals and for what reasons—be it for a well-placed logo or a humorous punchline. These insights allow brands to rethink messaging and boost ad recall and performance.
Enhancing Our Understanding of Consumer Packaging Psychology
Packaging is more than just a protective cocoon that holds a product until it can be used; it is also a conduit through which the product makes its initial appeal to the consumer. The common phrase “Pop goes the weasel” may explain why brands strive to get the most pop possible out of their packaging. But why do some finishes, color palettes, or font choices work better than others? What about our neurological processes makes us associate a shiny bag with negativity while a matte bag seems just fine?
The first impression someone gets from your website or web app can often be the last one. Online visitors are like shoppers. If they don’t like the basic appearance of the place, they are not going to stick around, much less explore deeper and make a purchase. For that reason, many web developers and designers strive for an aesthetically pleasing landing page. The whole venture of “optimizing” a web app, then, usually starts with that common notion of pleasing the eyes. And yet, what exactly does it mean to optimize the eye appeal of a web app?
Neuromarketing Put into Practice: Real-World Cases
While some of the most famous global brands employ neuromarketing techniques, many underappreciated aspects of the field are explored by academic institutions and political organizations. Here are three obvious and one not-so-obvious example of how different entities use the power of neuromarketing to their advantage.
A Study on the Branding of Coca-Cola and Pepsi
In one of the most frequently referenced experiments in marketing, scientists sought to understand the appeal of Coca-Cola and Pepsi using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The researchers asked study subjects to taste each beverage while their brains were being scanned. When the scientists looked at what parts of the participants’ brains lit up in response to the two drinks, they saw no differences. But when the researchers threw branding into the mix, they found much stronger responses to the Coca-Cola label.
IKEA’s Store Design
IKEA’s snake-like store layout is a masterpiece of neuromarketing. It leads customers to buy things they never planned to purchase by making them encounter—on the way to and inside their “living space”—a multitude of different products. And all those encounters? They’re not random. The store is carefully designed so that when you space out in its rabbit warren and go from room to room or make a few laps (as some studies suggest is ideal), you will have seen approximately 80 different spaces filled with around 1,200 different home-related items.
The Ethics of Neuromarketing
While neuromarketing’s benefits are many, its use can raise ethical flags. Detractors worry that exploring the basic volitional act of purchasing to that level of depth might yield knowledge that could be used to “train” consumers to buy things. After all, if certain types of images or stimuli can provoke a response, what happens when the image-stimulus combination is turned on the consumer in a targeted way that doesn’t involve basic processes of free will?
These are vital questions for an emerging field to consider, and debates around them will help shape the kinds of guidelines that clear-thinking practitioners will undoubtedly need to follow. Modern marketers have always tried to sway consumers, but magnifying their efforts through motivation research and other techniques has cast a rather unfriendly light on our industry. It is crucial that we use the insights gained through such work in a responsible manner while also making every effort to not manipulate what are, essentially, human ‘buy buttons.’ Striking that balance is key. If we can’t do it, we simply deserve to be called out—and we might as well abolish our industry and hand the keys to the ‘buy buttons’ over to hackers.
Earning Consumer Trust
Earning consumer trust starts with maintaining transparency, which is a potent mitigation strategy for ethical concerns bound to arise with this technology. When companies engaged in neuromarketing directly inform consumers about the nature of their work and the way in which they utilize the data they collect, they signal to the public that neuromarketing doesn’t operate in the shadows, harvesting brain data for nefarious ends.
Is Neuromarketing a Worthwhile Investment for Your Company?
Because of the cost and the complexity of its techniques, neuromarketing is not feasible for every business. But if you’re in a high-stakes industry or if you’re about to launch a truly innovative product, the payoff from neuromarketing could make it well worth your while. Neuromarketing offers very precise, actionable insights that can underlie solid business decisions.
Working With Neuromarketing Specialists
For businesses that lack neuroscience expertise, the most effective alternative is to work in partnership with neuromarketing specialists. Selecting the right partner is key to this arrangement. Seek out firms whose methodologies have strong backing in peer-reviewed research and whose promises match the methodologies’ limitations. A successful partnership can yield substantial benefits that go well beyond the investment.
Fusing Neuromarketing With WoopSocial To Supercharge Insights
One way to create more power from the insights of neuromarketing is to combine them with tools like WoopSocial. WoopSocial lets brands run and manage campaigns on and around the fast-growing world of social media, including videos, images, and other visual content. So, using WoopSocial to run a social campaign that’s based on insights from a neuromarketing study can help ensure maximum efficiency and reach. And that’s something every brand should consider on its way to becoming a powerhouse.
The marketing research world is rapidly evolving, and neuromarketing could very well be its next frontier. This relatively new field promises a closer look at the most important part of any marketing strategy—the customer. But instead of using traditional focus groups to glean insights into what consumers are thinking, neuromarketers study the human brain itself. “They are using the best tools of psychology and physiology to understand human behavior,” says Alan Steel, a marketing professor at Penn State.