In the era of hyper-solicitation of advertising, brands no longer know how to capture the consumer's attention. This in fact sees 1,200 advertisements per day on average! How can a brand stand out from the crowd? By practicing neuromarketing. In other words, by applying cognitive neuroscience to marketing. A vector of emotions, neuromarketing acts on the brain unconsciously to trigger the act of purchasing. What exactly does this concept consist of? What is its use? Discover how neuroscience can help marketers improve their campaigns, by following these 4 steps.
The application of neuroscience to marketing and communication is not new. It began to arouse interest in the 2000s, with the work of American neuroscientist Professor Read Montague. The experience consisted of a tasting of Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Result: if 67 % individuals said they preferred Pepsi during the blind test, there were 75 % individuals who chose Coca-Cola when they tasted the drink knowing the brand! This work therefore demonstrated that consumers did not choose products rationally and that they were strongly influenced by brand image. Hence the interest for them to invest in neuromarketing to refine their commercial strategies.
Understanding the “unconscious” of consumers
The objective: to offer the most relevant products possible within a market. In this context, it is a question of studying the purchasing decisions of consumers who are less rational than they think, as we have seen. In other words, emotions play a determining role in the purchasing process. Hence the need to go beyond measurements carried out by traditional research methods.
These methods generally simply question the consumer. The declaration is in fact often subjective and biased. Consumer decision-making, recall, and preference typically arise from unconscious or inexpressible processes during questionnaires. For example, focus groups do not identify these emotional manifestations.
By applying neuroscience to marketing, you refine the information obtained by traditional marketing. And you get a finer understanding of your customers' behavior.
Neuromarketing: using dedicated tools
©Benoit Rochon
Neuromarketing consists of analyzing the reactions of the human brain when it is subjected to different types of visual stimuli during a purchasing act. In support, different instruments to decipher consumer emotions and behavior. At the top of the list are magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. They make it possible to observe the brain activity of consumers when they are subjected to different stimuli. Techniques which can in particular be used to analyze the reactions triggered by an advertisement in order to seek ways to strengthen its attractiveness.
Another technique used, eye-tracking, to better understand the subject's attention. Concretely, it involves measuring the movement of a consumer's eyes. And thus make it possible to analyze the paths traveled by the gaze on a specific support (website, packaging, advertising campaign, etc.) and to determine the most viewed areas: number of glances, time, reading direction, order of the path of the eye, etc. We can cite the example of Netflix which uses eye-tracking to optimize navigation on its application.
Third very popular tool, particularly by large groups like L'Oréal, is EEG (electroencephalography). Using electrodes connected and attached to the scalp, this tool measures the electrical waves generated by the brain. The objective: to see in real time how the brain reacts emotionally to a given experience (watching an advertisement or browsing an e-commerce site, for example).
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Predicting consumer behavior
Thanks to these different tools, you obtain precise data to better understand what your target is looking for, better understand them and, consequently, improve their experience. So much information that will help you influence their behavior and decision-making. For example, by giving him good recommendations during an advertising campaign. Or by adapting the ergonomics of an e-commerce site to your preferences.
Ultimately, you increase your chances of capturing the attention of your target population. In addition, by being more precise in your actions, you optimize your actions (campaigns, content creation, etc.) and gain efficiency. While at the same time rationalizing your investments. Neuromarketing applies both in the physical world and in the digital world.
Know reason and keep
Thanks to neuromarketing, you can target the brain levers of the desire to buy. But that doesn’t mean your “business” goal will be achieved. In other words, it is not necessarily the best remembered ad that is the most effective. There are of course other parameters that come into play, such as the consumer's purchasing environment.
Furthermore, neuromarketing directly addresses consumers' unconscious minds for commercial purposes. The question then arises of consent and the right to privacy. Hence the establishment by certain States of safeguards, like Chile which is considering the creation of “neurorights”. These would be intended to protect citizens against possible intrusions into their brains of unwanted information and solicitations.
The important thing to remember is that the application of neuroscience to marketing allows for a more detailed and predictive understanding of customer behavior. And thus goes beyond the framework of traditional marketing. Therefore, neuromarketing helps marketers improve their campaigns through the implementation of dedicated tools such as MRI or eye-tracking. Result: optimized actions to gain efficiency. You have to know how to maintain reason, because neuromarketing does not always work.
