As we already discussed in a previous article, “neuromarketing” is the application of neuroscience to marketing. But why is it beneficial to rely on neuromarketing research when it comes to measuring your advertising performance?
Emotions are key to advertising effectiveness
There are many theories about how advertising works, but the general consensus across all modern theories is that emotions are at the heart of the relationship people have with brands. They influence our conscious decisions and drive our non-conscious decisions. Of course, message-based advertising is important and communicating product attributes is still an essential part of the job for all brand managers. But more often than not, consumers base their decisions on less-than-rational considerations. By using neuromarketing research, one can reveal emotions that are difficult to verbalise. The second-by-second physiological data that is recorded and analysed eliminates social compliances and shows even the smallest changes while potential customers watch content. While traditional market research techniques like focus groups and questionnaires explore the conscious, rational side of decision making, neuromarketing goes far beyond that by digging right into the minds of customers, exploring emotional responses to marketing stimuli. The brain responses recorded are not consciously perceived by the customer; hence, this data is more revealing about personal preferences, emotional reactions, untold purchasing habits, than surveys, focus groups and other traditional market research methods. Contrary to classic qualitative research, results don’t depend on a moderator, an opinion leader and other biases. It helps to gain access to genuine and valid insights about the audience.
Are you curious about the difference between a focus group and a neuromarketing research? Head over here.
Neuromarketing measurement in practice
Let’s say a brand wants to launch a new video campaign. To achieve the best effect, one has to know which character, which voiceover and timing of the packshot convinces customers to convert. While surveys or focus group discussions can be informative regarding which characters or which voiceover to choose, the verbal or written response given to the question “do you like this character or that one?” may not always be the true answer. It might be more effective to measure what people truly think and feel, without asking them. When measuring emotional responses with neuromarketing, customers are shown a bunch of different versions of the ad, during which their brain activity is measured, revealing whether they get excited, attracted and engaged or not or show other emotional responses that they might not be aware of. The key process of neuromarketing is translating the results of data-gathering into actionable insights. Once the data is in our hands, experienced analysts assess and benchmark content making suggestions to marketers about improving their content and communication. Thanks to these insights, advertisers can better understand consumer behaviour and adjust marketing in order to maximise its emotional performance, memorability and activation power. This is one application of neuromarketing - the one Synetiq is best at - but as you can imagine, the possibilities are endless.
Neuromarketing is changing the field of marketing
The application of neuroscience to traditional marketing activities has yielded impressive results in the field of marketing. While in the past, your boss may have increased your budget and told you to buy more ads, sponsor additional events, or throw your logo on a bus stop to get better results, now it’s possible to get better results without an increase in marketing spending. Neuromarketing drives performance without having to increase your budget. The insights neuromarketing offers help rethink marketing strategies and create smarter marketing that will boost the effectiveness of marketing efforts and optimise emotional performance without spending more. As success stories are emerging from the strategic use of neuromarketing research, more and more companies are starting to trust and use neuromarketing insights to influence purchasing decisions. A commercial industry has started to emerge that not only offers novel ways of assessing consumer attention and emotion but it’s aiding marketing budget optimisation. While neuromarketing is only yet to take over the world, the footprint that this methodology is leaving on the field of marketing as a whole is already undeniable.
To sum it up, while a conscious questionnaire’s responses can be biased by many factors, emotions never lie. Neuromarketing offers to measure and understand unconscious and uncontrolled emotional reactions on a second-by-second basis.
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For a deeper introduction to neuromarketing, check out Introduction to Neuromarketing & Consumer Neuroscience by one of the world’s leading applied neuromarketing practitioners, or check Roger Dooley’s Neuromarketing blog!
