Eye tracking enables marketers to examine which visual elements attract consumers. By combining this with technologies normally associated with neuroscience, marketers can learn how consumers actually respond to those elements and can develop campaigns that truly engage their audience, says Angelica Micallef Trigona.

From business cards and mobile applications to websites and video, organisations have endless ways of publicly presenting themselves. Each channel has a different purpose, providing a distinctive method of message delivery. Medium and message must be skilfully combined if a marketing campaign is to be successful: the way each element is designed, constructed and executed will impact success rates.

Yet getting the combination right is no easy task: marketers need to use the right triggers to engage their intended audience and these have typically proven elusive.

Eye tracking allows marketers to pinpoint marketing stimuli.

When we are presented with some piece of marketing collateral – be it a brochure, mail, a movie trailer or a chocolate wrapper – we respond in a direct, subconscious manner that impacts how we perceive the item. While it may be hard for us to be aware of what that internal response is, there is a scientific way of accessing this data.

For instance, when we view something, our eye movements expose a wide range of reactions that are subconsciously occurring in our brains. Neuromarketing can be used to decode these processes, allowing marketers to discover consumers’ desires and hidden triggers. Contrary to the self-reporting traditionally used in surveys, questionnaires or focus groups, this type of market research allows marketers to unearth what consumers truly want.

A visual representation of cognitive and attention activity.

Neuromarketing can be simply defined as the application of neuroscientific methods to understand human behaviour in relation to marketing exchanges. In Malta, AAT Services Limited executes research projects within the consumer neuroscience and neuromarketing sector and provides advanced sensory testing. The company uses physiological tools to dig deep and examine test subjects’ true response to a vast range of stimuli such as adverts, movie trailers, designs, textures, and more. It is a member of the Neuromarketing Science and Business Association, which is the global trade association for entities with a professional interest in the field of neuromarketing. AAT founder and managing director Adrian Attard Trevisan is the NMSBA Chair for Malta. As a corporate member of the association, AAT follows a rigorous set of guidelines and standards in all research projects.

Neuromarketers use a wide range of tools to gather data. Each research question requires a uniquely constructed research methodology. However when measuring visual stimuli, a combination of technologies would likely include a selection of eye tracking, electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging and galvanic skin response.

Equipped with fixed and portable eye tracking devices, neuromarketers are able to determine where consumers are looking and for how long. By tracking eye movements, marketers may analyse the speed of movements, gazes and even pupil dilations. These factors are all indicators of the level of consumers’ attention and interest. Furthermore, eye tracking allows marketers to pinpoint the exact pieces of a marketing stimuli that grasp attention.

In a brain that is taking in information, it’s normal for the eyes to jump rapidly instead of fixating. These rapid eye movements are known as saccades. Research shows that the greater level of fixations per second is indicative of a high level of active attention. Eye tracking is beneficial to those wanting to test the effectiveness of websites, mobile applications, store layouts, product placements and any print or multimedia advertising. Yet to unleash its full power, it is best to combine it with other neuromarketing technologies to record what is going on in the brain while the eye movement is tracked.

Brain imaging techniques such as high-density electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging allow us to monitor brain activity following a stimulus. These techniques allow neuromarketers to pinpoint which regions of the brain are being activated to scientifically determine how consumers feel about marketing material.

Apart from using brain imaging techniques to learn what visual stimuli are causing which states of mind, fluctuations in electricalconductance in our skin can be captured via galvanic skin response tests to discover how effective a stimulus is, based on the size of these fluctuations. Using a combination of tools, neuromarketers can pinpoint the precise components of a stimulus that consumers look at and link this to the different emotions that are experienced during the same, exact moment.

A number of AAT clients are keen to learn how people respond to specific elements of their website. In each case, AAT measured visitors’ physiological response to the site using HD electroencephalography, galvanic skin response and eye tracking, and highlighted the sections of the site that garnered attention and those that failed to engage visitors or communicate the corporate image. The data gathered was processed via cognitive analysis. This provides a visual representation of cognitive and attention activity along with areas of interest.

Using the data gathered from these tools, a heat map can be generated that provides a visual representation of which parts of the website were engaging and which failed to have any impact. In another study where AAT was asked to compare user engagement for a specific series of different adverts, results revealed that when a person was included in the design, the model’s face drew almost all the viewers’ attention, quashing any focus on the main text box that was supposed to get the message across.

In a joint project conducted by AAT and the University of Malta, a combination of HD electroencephalography, galvanic skin response and eye tracking was used to analyse and contrast video and static adverts used in the automotive industry, to pinpoint which parts were appealing, discover what improvements could be made for optimal impact and learn which medium is best suited to the message being conveyed.

These projects show how consumers’ eyes can truly be the windows to their soul if adequately tracked and coupled with complementary tools that record genuine engagement levels. With that data in hand, marketers can create campaigns that really strike a chord.

Angelica Micallef Trigona is chief and marketing operations officer at AAT Research Limited.

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