Getting Into the Minds of Consumers

• Neuromarketing is simply neuroscience

applied to marketing. Researchers use
technologies that observe brain activity and
biometrics (such as heart rate, eye tracking,
galvanic skin response, facial coding, etc.) to
determine how people respond physiologically
to marketing messages.
 Neuromarketing examples might
include:
• Tracking eye movement to see which parts of
a webpage grab the user’s attention first
• Using EEG imaging of the brain to determine
one’s emotional response to an ad or product
• Determining which version of an ad generates
the most brain activity, as seen in an fMRI
scan
 Getting Into the Minds of Consumers

• The goal of neuromarketing is to better

understand consumer behaviour by gaining
insight into the reactions and decision-making
happening at the unconscious level. Since 90
percent of the information that comes into
the human brain is processed unconsciously,
neuroscience gives us valuable insight into
automatic human responses that influence
consumer behavior.
 Getting Into the Minds of Consumers

• By contrast, traditional marketing research

methods involve consumer surveys, focus
groups and external observation to gather
data about what people think, feel and
believe. These traditional methods are better
at revealing conscious decision-making
processes.
The Pros and Cons of Neuromarketing

• Thanks to neuromarketing research, marketers

no longer have to rely as heavily on consumer
self-reporting. For starters, it can be difficult
to get people to participate in surveys and
focus groups. And even when there’s a lot of
feedback given, the results can be biased or
inaccurate. Neuromarketing bypasses
conscious thinking and identifies automatic
reactions that tend to be universal across the
population.
The Pros and Cons of Neuromarketing

• On the other hand, because these findings are

so generalized, there is still a need for
traditional research to understand a target
audience in greater detail. And even though
consumers’ decisions can be greatly
influenced by their subconscious responses,
what they consciously think and feel still
matters – a lot.
The Pros and Cons of Neuromarketing

• Neuromarketing can be used to help your

marketing messages appeal to human beings
as a whole, while traditional methods help
you hone your message for a specific
audience.
The Pros and Cons of Neuromarketing

• You will still need to do plenty of trial and

error to see what actually works for your
target audience, in your market, with your
products. Sorry, neuromarketing is not a magic
bullet. Honing in on an optimized marketing
strategy will always involve work.
 Advantages of Neuromarketing

• The biggest advantage of neuromarketing is

that it can fill in the gaps left by traditional
marketing methods, because neuromarketing
provides insight into situations where
consumers say they want one thing, but then
act (i.e., buy) in a different way.
 Neuromarketing has an advantage
because it:
• Does not rely on consumers to willingly and
accurately report emotions,
• Can closely tie physiological reactions to
specific parts of an ad or message, and
• Provides insight into automatic responses that
take place at the subconscious level.
 Limitations of Neuromarketing

• However, it’s important to keep in mind

that variances in how individuals process
information and the limitations of testing can
make it difficult to generalize results with
certainty. Limitations include:
• The high cost in doing neuromarketing research
means it is conducted with small sample sizes
and often funded by corporations, which could
introduce bias into the results.
 Limitations of Neuromarketing

• Since brain science is still evolving, there’s not

a completely reliable way to connect the
marketing stimuli to the emotions triggered.
• Reactions observed in a lab test environment
may be somewhat different than they would
be in an actual buying environment.
Picture of the Brain
Human Anatomy
 The Brain
• The brain is one of the largest and most
complex organs in the human body.
It is made up of more than 100 billion nerves
that communicate in trillions of connections
called synapses.
 The Brain
• The brain is made up of many specialized
areas that work together:
• The cortex is the outermost layer of brain
cells. Thinking and voluntary movements
begin in the cortex.
• The brain stem is between the spinal cord
and the rest of the brain. Basic functions like
breathing and sleep are controlled here.
 The Brain
• The basal ganglia are a cluster of structures in
the center of the brain. The basal ganglia
coordinate messages between multiple other
brain areas.
• The cerebellum is at the base and the back
of the brain. The cerebellum is responsible for
coordination and balance.
 The Brain
• The brain is also divided into several lobes:
• The frontal lobes are responsible for problem
solving and judgment and motor function.
• The parietal lobes manage sensation,
handwriting, and body position.
• The temporal lobes are involved with memory
and hearing.
• The occipital lobes contain the brain's visual
processing system.
 The Brain
• The brain is surrounded by a layer of tissue
called the meninges. The skull (cranium) helps
protect the brain from injury.
 Reflexive Brain
• The reflexive brain only deals with what is
present. It receives data in the form of
experience, acts pretty much automatically to
classify things as threats or not, and makes
decisions accordingly.
 Archiving Brain
• The archiving brain is that part of your brain
that quickly filters, processes, and stores
information for later use. It’s where the
narrative of our life lives — from what we had
for breakfast this morning, to what the capital
of South Dakota is.
 Reflective
• The reflective brain is the one that we use
when we think about things that are not
present. We engage it when we make plans
for future, think about abstract concepts, or
analyze and interpret past events. It is that
brain that is most responsible for reasoning
and decision-making.