Neuromarketing is when neuroscience is applied to marketing. This is when researchers use different technologies that observe biometrics and brain activity to determine how people respond physiologically to marketing messages. This includes biometrics like eye tracking, facial coding, and heart rates. Some examples include a brand determining which version of an ad generates the most brain activity, or tracking eye movement to see which parts of a webpage grab the consumer’s attention. Many businesses use neuromarketing to see decision-making happening at the subconscious level or have a better understanding of the customer behaviors by gaining some knowledge into their reactions on different tactics.
By marketers having neuromarketing, it allows them to not rely so much on consumer self-reporting like surveys and focus groups. First, it’s difficult for people to participate, and second, the results can turn out to be inaccurate or biased. Neuromarketing identifies the general reactions that come across the population, meaning the findings are very generalized. Brands would still need traditional research to understand the target market in more detail. It can also help with a brand’s marketing messages that can be applied to traditional methods to help reach a specific target audience.
Some advantages for brands to use neuromarketing can provide insights into automatic responses that take place in the subconscious level, how brands don’t have to rely on consumers to willingly report their emotions, and most importantly, it fills in the Neuromarketing has many benefits, but it also has its limitations, like how reactions can be different in a lab test than in an actual buying environment and its high cost. Also, it’s a tactic that is still evolving, so there is not a completely reliable way to connect the marketing stimuli to the emotions triggered.
In my current job position as assistant manager of a fitness studio, neuromarketing is a way for us to see what our members are thinking. Seeing what emotions are driving them to their final decision, what visuals they are processing quicker than words, and specific colors that can stimulate particular emotional reactions. All of these factors are essential elements that will help my company to get to know their customers and how to meet their needs in a better way. These important tactics can help a brand stand out in their industry and indeed find the meaning of why and how consumers relate to the brand on an emotional and personal level.