Have you ever heard of Eye-Tracking? Have you ever heard of Eye-Tracking? Our eyes have much more valuable information than we think, especially if we speak in terms of Market Research, where technological developments allow brands to know their customers and consumers better and better.

Large companies and multinationals of the 21st century are counting on Neuromarketing as a strong ally when it comes to approaching their clients (and potential clients). What exactly is Neuromarketing? It’s often talked about, but it’s true that there is also a tendency to mix ideas and concepts. We can define it as the study of the shopping process and all the factors that influence consumer’s decision-making (both at the time of the purchase and after it).

Brands need to retain their current customers, attract new consumers and improve and grow sales of their products and / or services. To do this, it’s essential to better understand the minds of consumers; to be able to understand their behavior patterns and to analyze every nuance of their purchasing decisions. And we’re not always aware as to why we choose a certain product or service. A large part of the purchasing decision (no less than 95% according to experts) is in our subconscious. It has nothing to do with logic or reasoning, but rather it responds to emotions. By discovering how consumers’ subconscious acts, brands can anticipate their needs, surprise them, have a greater impact and ultimately convince them… How do you reach that subconscious? That is the heart of the matter.

Analyzing The User’s Visual Behavior

One of the most popular visual neuromarketing techniques used in Market Research is Eye-Tracking. Its objective is to study the visual behavior of the consumer in order to analyze where he or she is looking when presented with a new product package, creative advertisement, video, webpage, new mobile application, etc. In this way, the brand can get closer to the consumer’s subconscious in order to analyze it and obtain data that will allow it to develop new strategies. And this is not something new; it has been applied in Market Research since the 1960’s. The big difference, of course, is the amount of new possibilities and information that we can extract from these techniques thanks to advances in technology.

Today, Eye-Tracking is a technique widely used by companies to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of their visual marketing elements (such as printed or online advertising pieces, TV ads, etc.) and also the usability of other corporate platforms such as websites, mobile applications, etc. Here, Eye-Tracking offers the possibility of analyzing the user’s interaction with various brand platforms, the clicks, the so-called “hot spots” of a website or an email, the time the user spends observing each component of the item, etc.

Eye-Tracking: How Does It Work?

The test is carried out using various technological devices known as eye-trackers (from cameras and monitors to specific glasses, depending on the type of study and the setting where it is carried out), which are provided to the participants.

During the data collection process, software will record all eye (pupil) movements collected through infrared sensors and transform this data into user behavior patterns.

This way, Eye-Tracking obtains data about:

• What the subject observes
• The interval of observation time
• The visual path followed by the subject in front of the product, packaging, video, advertising, web, mobile application, etc.
• The dilation of their pupils in the presence of the stimuli presented.

And then? The most complicated part of the analysis begins; the moment when marketing professionals and experts who use this tool have to interpret all the data obtained and recorded by the Eye-Tracking technology: the meaning of each eye movement, each blink, each pupil dilation and other behaviors of the subject’s eye during the study.

The final objective of the brand is to better understand consumers, to identify their behavior (both rational and emotional) when making purchasing decisions and to define new strategies so that its product or service meets all customer expectations, appeals to them and makes them love it, even though on many occasions they don’t know for sure why…,what it is that has ultimately led them to opt for a particular product or service. Here we could apply the well-known saying “the heart has reasons that reason itself doesn’t understand.”

Have you tried Eye-Tracking in your market research? Would you like to incorporate it into your next study? Contact the Calma team and we’ll provide you with all the information without any obligation.

Dare to see the world through the eyes of your clients.