what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun."
-Ecclesiastes 1:9
Neuromarketing, "the application of neuroscience to marketing" (Roger Dooley, writing for NeuroScienceMarketing.com), is nothing new. Solomon predicted that. It has drawn increasing notice from consumers for two reasons.
1. Technology is improving so marketers can collect even more neurotic data.
2. Consumer paranoia is increasing along with a feeling that we have a right to our thoughts.
But do consumers really have a right to privacy when it comes to actions taken subconsciously based on their thoughts?
Even if researchers are denied access to the inner thoughts and chemical balances of consumers, they can obtain quite a bit of neurotic data by observing subconscious actions.
The eyes are the windows to the soul, and their attention is of utmost importance to marketers. Juergen Bluhm published research results in 2008 showing the importance of location when it comes to catching the attention of the eyes.
His team used eye tracking equipment to create "gaze trails," showing where consumers looked, for how long, and in which way their eyes browsed the goods. Glances were measured in milliseconds, showing just how short a consumer's attention span can be.
Adults tended to look at the upper shelves, but not the highest shelf. Children tended to look at lower shelves, most likely due to their lower height. They also looked significantly longer than adults, most likely due to the fact that the subject matter was a candy shelf. Had the researchers used tools, children might not have looked as long. Consumers tended to look at the center of the shelf and to the right. Both adults and children begin their gaze in the center of the shelf, near the middle of their looking area, then move their gaze to the top of the looking area before moving over to the right and continuing down to the bottom of their looking area.
Their work shows how powerful this research can be, while remaining non invasive and completely confidential. Additionally, neuromarketing research can be done on paid subjects who submit to the research, then applied to those outside of the lab with fair results.
As consumers, we should welcome and not fear neuromarketing, and avoid getting too neurotic about it.
