It becomes more difficult to reach the target audience on the Internet, because in communication "seller-buyer" there is a lot of interference that distort the original message. A new way to minimize the loss of information and improve the quality of advertising campaigns is neuromarketing research techniques. This is the direction of marketing research, the subject of which is the study of unconscious human reactions to advertising incentives. Today, not usefulness, rational arguments, and his own subconscious motivation force the consumer to make a choice or make a decision about buying a product or service. This irrational aspect of human behavior (however, like any other aspect of it) can be understood and used by marketers only as a result of attracting scientific knowledge.
Definition Neuromarketing
Neuromarketing is the study of unconscious human reactions to marketing incentives with the help of special equipment (tomographs, galvanometers, electroencephalographs, etc.). The results obtained form the basis for the creation of advertising messages, which will be predictably effective. The data that neuromarketologists receive allows them to change the thoughts of a person before he realized them and made his position.
How Neuromarketing Works
The main task of neuromarketing is to get the right behavior from the person. This method of research today faces many ethical challenges. People are increasingly asking whether it is necessary to develop technologies that easily manipulate the human mind? Advertising will always exist, and people must learn not to fall under the influence of substandard manipulation. Neuromarketing uses a variety of technologies to study human behavior. The main ones are aimed at investigating feedback. One of the cheapest methods is eye tracking. This is a feedback tracking on the movement of the eyes. However, different people react differently to the same pathogens. Therefore, for manipulating a person, only technology is not enough. At the moment, our brain is not completely transparent to science, but the development of technology does not stand still.
Thus, the main task of neuromarketing is to gain access to human emotions, so that a person makes a decision about buying in an emotional state. With the help of neuromarketing, specialists are able to identify a cognitive and emotional response to a commercial message or information. For example, with its help, they are able to evaluate which of several packaging options, which particular variant of advertising causes the most positive emotions. Experts identify the degree of perception of information. For example, they evaluate whether the musical accompaniment helps to focus on the perception of the advertised product. All this is achieved with the help of neuromarketing tools.
With the help of high-tech procedures that allow recording the reaction of the human brain, it is possible to trace with great accuracy the processes that take place in it without the participation of consciousness in response to a commercial product or an advertising video. First of all, these are processes responsible for making decisions and emotional reactions, the concentration of attention and behavior, aesthetic pleasure, short-term and long-term memory, sexual arousal and so on.
Neuromarketing in Market Research
In the framework of neuromarketing research of the market, first of all, the customer formulates the task. It can be, for example, promotion of the brand or strengthening of positions in the market. After that, the neuromarketing company gives the recruiting agencies a description of the target audience and selects people for research. At the next stage, people are invited to a laboratory for research using special equipment. With the help of devices, the neurophysiological parameters of a person are recorded.
- Eye trackers register eye movements and track the coordinates of the eye. They are used to study the attention and interest of respondents.
- The high-resolution camera helps to analyze micro mimics for determining emotions (surprise, fear, irritation, joy and other emotions).
- Polygraph ("lie detector") is used to record respiration, cardiovascular activity, electrical skin resistance. The polygraph is used to evaluate emotional involvement.
- The electroencephalograph registers the bioelectrical activity of the brain.
Usually, all instruments are used in studies simultaneously. People are shown a video and researchers take information about the indicators of attention, interest, memorization, involvement and cognitive load. The main tasks in neuromarketing are to correctly obtain and interpret data. After analyzing the data, the researchers submit the report with recommendations to the customer. The whole procedure takes about five to seven days.
Neuromarketing in Advertising
Neuromarketing research allowed introducing the following effects in the advertising activities of companies.
- The effect of the anchor. This is the most commonly used effect in e-commerce when companies indicate the starting price before the price with discount. The trick is that people are impressed when the price is "lowered" because they mainly pay attention only to the initial amount. In general, the effect of the anchor is a universal tendency to strongly trust the first proposed information (the "anchor") in making decisions.
- The effect of the framework of perception. This effect is that a person makes different conclusions from the same information, depending on how information is presented. It is possible to say "8 out of 10 people on the bus survived the accident" or "2 out of 10 people died." The difference is noticeable. When applied in e-commerce, positive reviews are placed in the first places, and negative ones are hidden or presented in a way that does not reduce the visitor's desire to make a purchase.
- Halo effect. When it comes to the "halo effect", this refers to cognitive distortion, which causes the general impression of a person to influence what is thought and felt about him. However, one excellent quality does not mean that a person is beautiful in general. This also applies to e-commerce sites. Electronic stores with a beautiful design can earn money by selling revalued goods at a huge cost of delivery, while more humble businessmen remain with empty pockets.
5 Main Benefits of Neuromarketing
- The most important advantage of neuromarketing over its classic fellow is the ability to accurately identify which of the advertised products, brands or videos users just like, and which really is effective for making a decision.
- Another important advantage of neuromarketing is its ability to objectively evaluate which of the many packages (or other types of promotional products) is remembered best, even in those cases when respondents claim that they did not remember anything.
- In addition, neuromarketing excludes subjectivity, which inevitably arises when interviewing respondents, and as a result, excludes the time costs associated with interviewing a large number of respondents needed to reduce subjectivity.
- The effectiveness of neuromarketing is very high, its use makes it possible to conclude whether the respondent chooses to buy or not. This conclusion is based on well-studied activations/deactivations and interactions of a whole set of brain zones.
- An advertising campaign built on the basis of research and the main principles of neuromarketing will not only attract the attention of consumers but in its potential, it guarantees the increase in sales and the growth of profits in general.
Summing up, it should be emphasized that neuromarketing research is a new important scientific direction born at the intersection of economics, marketing, psychology, and neurobiology, which aims to study and understand a very important field of activity of a person living in a modern postindustrial society. New knowledge gained through neuromarketing research will help to better understand human behavior, reduce existing negative influences and risks that affect it in the modern world.