In the current era of hyper-personalisation, brands seem to be on the search for advanced methods to gain ‘deeper’ insights into consumer behaviour. As customer patterns evolve, the integration of neuroscience applications into marketing, known as neuromarketing, has emerged as a key strategy to enhance understanding and engagement. The subconscious mind is responsible for 95% of people’s buying choices, as stated by Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman. On that note, for the process of turning clicks into conversions, neuromarketing has come into play to allow marketers to create campaigns that resonate with end-users, enabling the usage of neural data to target advertising campaigns. “I believe neuromarketing goes beyond traditional methods by providing insights into what captures and retains user attention and evokes emotions. This enables marketers to craft engaging content, predict consumer preferences with accuracy, and optimise messaging and design for maximum impact. By providing an understanding of end-users, neuromarketing approaches can lead to higher engagement rates, increased loyalty, and return on investment. Going forward, marketers should look beyond the purview of clicks and conversions towards an approach called return on experience (ROX), and neuromarketing should be a key element to achieve this,” Jacob Joseph, VP – data science, CleverTap, a customer engagement platform, told BrandWagon Online.
As far as the international neuromarketing sector is concerned, it was valued at $3,324.98 million in 2023, with predictions for $6,576.76 million by 2032, on the back of an 8.9% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during 2024–32, as stated by Straits Research, a market research organisation.
The underlying psychology
For marketers to do well, response time is considered an important factor. Marketers get around two seconds to grab consumers’ attention in the digital space, as per a study done by Mars, a global manufacturer of food products. Reportedly, Mars, in collaboration with companies such as IRI, GFK, Kantar, Nielsen, and Catalina, studied close to 4,000 campaigns to find an immediate sales outcome. Of the 4,000 campaigns surveyed, Mars evaluated 250 of them with regard to cognitive elements such as memory, emotion, and attention, which led to the main discovery that attention strongly correlates with sales impact. Official data suggests that Mars’ Agile Creative Expertise (ACE) tool, an AI-oriented ad application, helps detect the connection between a video ad and the emotional reaction to it. Market studies have shown that when customers have an emotional bond with a brand, 70% of them tend to spend twice as much on purchases. Additionally, more than 80% of these emotionally connected customers are likely to recommend their preferred brands to friends and family. “I believe neuromarketing-driven optimisations have improved conversion rates for various businesses. Neuromarketing insights can optimise website elements by understanding how users’ brains react to different designs and messages. Neuro-targeting is a concept part of neuromarketing which involves using neural data to target advertising campaigns. By using techniques such as eye-tracking and electroencephalography (EEG), comfort brands can evaluate how users interact with their products, and advertisements,” Ripal Chopda, chief marketing officer, The Sleep Company, a mattress brand, explained.
In terms of practices involved, EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provide insights into consumer preferences by measuring brain activity. Market studies have shown that EEG tracks real-time electrical signals, capturing cognitive processes, while fMRI identifies brain regions activated by specific stimuli, revealing deeper emotional responses. These techniques carry the potential to enable marketers to uncover subconscious consumer preferences that aren’t articulated consciously. For example, Coca-Cola employed EEG testing to gauge reactions to TV ads, leading to the development of the “Share a Coke” campaign. Another example includes PayPal utilising fMRI technology to understand why consumers preferred credit card swiping over PayPal, prompting a redesign of their user interface. Similarly, Microsoft used EEG analysis to optimise Xbox game trailers by identifying scenes that elicited emotional responses, resulting in better promotional content.
The organisational mantra
Going by market reports, by examining brain activity, marketers can identify the moments and components that elicit emotional responses. This can lead to the creation of advertisements that are impactful and emotionally compelling. Neuro-targeting can not only ensure personalised marketing efforts but also enhance their effectiveness, leading to enduring consumer relationships and improved application experiences. To tap into better consumer relationships, Frito-Lay, a food company, employed neuromarketing techniques to enhance their packaging. By studying brain responses, they found that consumers reacted more unfavourably to shiny packaging compared to matte. As a result, they transitioned certain products to matte packaging. Moreover, Hyundai, an automotive manufacturer, analysed car models through EEG, to find the reasons that impact users’ buying decisions, for developing their final product, and Campbell’s Soup, a food company, created focus groups to integrate conventional approaches with tools to gauge unconscious reactions to design elements such as colour, text size, and imagery, aiding in refining packaging for enhanced consumer appeal. It’s believed that optimisations, willed by neuromarketing, have improved conversion rates for many companies. “For instance, eye-tracking data, implemented by a retail company on their website, led to a 25% surge in sales by prioritising key products and simplifying navigation. Another example is that of a travel agency, which had a 20% boost in its bookings by incorporating emotional triggers in ad copy and visuals. Persuasive marketing strategies, propelled by neuromarketing, can help businesses improve customer satisfaction and conversion rates. Also, using wordings that trigger positive emotional responses, such as “Unlock Your Potential” instead of “Sign Up”, can create a sense of value and urgency,” Delphin Varghese, co-founder and chief revenue officer, AdCounty Media, a digital marketing company, mentioned.
An eBay product page redesign primed by eye-tracking and EEG increased add-to-cart rates by 15%. This type of example could establish very clearly that, across multiple industries and platforms, neuromarketing insights can drive improved conversion rates by tuning into subconscious preferences and behaviours. Overall, ensuring transparency, obtaining consent, and respecting consumer privacy are understood to be crucial for ethical neuromarketing. Additionally, market experts have specified the need to adopt and implement data protection measures such as encryption to prevent misuse of consumer information. “Disclosure practices can ensure transparency, seek consumer consent, and respect privacy in neuromarketing, with related techniques being mentioned to the consumer. Developing a consent form that, among other things, describes how data will be collected and used requires opting in rather than opting out, which includes provisions for withdrawing consent at any time. Neural data separation from personally identifying information is done using data anonymisation techniques. Aggregate data should be used whenever possible. Business enterprises should develop data retention policies, update privacy policies, and ease access to consumers so that they can view and control their data,” Hariom Seth, founder, Tagglabs, a marketing campaign company, concluded.