Neuromarketing is the application of the principles of neuroscience to marketing practice. This technology uses advanced tools to track people’s brain activity to study consumer emotions, physical reactions and preferences towards products, brands and marketing techniques.
Some of the tools used in neuromarketing include:
1. Eye Tracking (E.T.)
This tool tracks where people look and how their eyes move when they look at something.
2. Electroencephalography (E.E.G.)
This tool measures the brain’s electrical activity to see how the brain responds to different marketing stimuli.
3. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI)
This tool uses magnetic fields to see which parts of the brain are active when people are exposed to marketing material.
4. Facial Expression Analysis (F.E.A.)
This tool analyzes people’s facial expressions to understand their emotional response to marketing.
5. Electrodermal Activity (E.D.A.)
This tool measures changes in the electrical properties of the skin that may indicate an emotional response.
Neuromarketing has made significant advances over the past two decades and has transformed marketing strategies since the 1990s. Advances in technology are powerful and are changing the way they engage with customers and understand their needs.
Neuromarketing not only supports traditional marketing by creating, directing and maintaining customer engagement, but also shapes brands, brand conversations, brand experiences, brand advocacy and brand communities. Several companies such as Microsoft, Google, Coca-Cola, and Amazon use these neuromarketing tools for sales, marketing, and research. Market research transformation includes digital marketing, mobile marketing, social media marketing, customer loyalty, customer journey, business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), direct to customer (DTC), big data, artificial intelligence (AI), new marketing analytics, social pricing, online pricing, and more.
A recent study by UTM scientists conducted an eye-tracking experiment to see how short videos capture audience attention. Short video platforms like Douyin have seen a surge in users and marketing applications in recent years. Experiment participants were shown a variety of short videos. As they watched the video, their eye movements and emotional responses were tracked, recorded and analyzed. The results show that character appearance, special editing effects, musical background and scene transitions help capture viewers’ attention. Short videos with the above characteristics also stimulate emotions and extend viewers’ viewing time, stimulating their willingness to buy and share the video with others.
While traditional marketing techniques are primarily based on self-reported data such as surveys and interviews, neuromarketing techniques allow marketers to gain deeper, more objective insights into the subconscious aspects of consumer preferences and decision-making processes. These insights provide marketers with valuable information to develop more relevant and effective marketing strategies to reach their target customers.
