Neuromarketing is a scientific study that uses the fundamentals of neuroscience phenomenon. The goal of neuromarketing is to capitalize on the cognitive biases of a target audience in order to persuade them to buy your products. Neuromarketing empowers marketers to hook potential buyers using human psychology and tempt them to make a purchase.
Neuromarketing has been around for over a decade and brands are spending a sizeable budget on this scientific method. For its efficacy in marketing and branding, neuromarketing has become an integral part of the market research process. Today, businesses align neuromarketing as a primary source of information to develop a product and position it to a specific market.
Application of Neuromarketing: A case study
fMRI is one of the popular methods of neuromarketing that helps marketers benefit from cognitive biases of the viewers in print ad. According to a study, neuromarketing uses fMRI in a print ad to attract the attention of viewers. fMRI activates 125 million visual neural receptors in the eyes. The visual neural receptors transmit information to the midbrain of the viewer which directs the motion of the eyes.
The signals are then received in the lateral geniculate nuclei, an area of the brain, where they are intercepted in terms of color, shape, and spatial location. This information is then reprocessed through hippocampus, a part of the brain which connects short-term memory to long-term memory. This cycle runs every time the viewer sees the advertisement. This is just one example of using neuromarketing to attract viewers.
So if you are inquisitive to know more about neuromarketing and how it helps businesses attract more customers, here are some good examples:
1. Color psychology can influence a consumer’s choice
KissMetrics reveals the role of colors in consumer behavior and how it influences their choices. According to the infographic, the visual stimuli (93%) tops in terms of its influence on consumer behavior. There are other stimuli in the list that include texture (15%), and sound/smell.
The infographic further reveals that consumers place colors as the primary factor (85%) in their purchasing decision, while the other factors share 15% of the overall value.
On the other hand, the color can increase brand recognition by 80% which means more people trust a brand that adds the right blend of colors. This infographic clearly proves that colors greatly affect consumer behavior and the choices of buyers.
2. The direction of a face in a photo can help point eyes to the intended section
The aforementioned image is taken from a study that reveals the heat maps where the viewers were looking. The study is conducted by Neuroscience Marketing where it explains how the face of a person should be looking in ad copy. With the help of eye-tracking technology, the study located the areas that attracted the maximum attention of viewers.
They put the first photo of the baby with the face looking at the viewers. The result shows that the viewers were only gazing at the photo of the baby. When they put the second photo with the face looking towards the ad copy, the viewers were also looking at the ad copy.
3. Audio branding can help develop the brand image
Whether it is the upbeat jingle of Mentos from its 1991 ad or the cacophony of the orchestra in the famous ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ ad, big brands have always been using audio sensory to build their brand image. Audio plays an instrumental (pun intended) role in activating the right mood in the audience and creating a sense of connection with a brand.
However, you need to be very particular about the tunes you would like to touch while doing the audio branding of your business. This will greatly depend on the personality of your brand as well as the emotions you want to invoke in your target audience. Both the theme and sound of your audio branding should be consistent with the brand image.
4. The right fonts can help convey your message
Humans tend to choose an option that offers more comfort and ease. That’s a basic human psyche. Going by the same psychological fact, people tend to like simple fonts that they can easily read and understand.
A study by Norbert Schwarz and Hyunjin Song reveals that people prefer easy-to-read fonts than complex fonts. They conducted a survey of 20 students by giving them printed instructions about the exercise routine. The instructions were written in two different types of fonts: Arial, 12pt, and Brush, 12pt. The result of the survey concluded that the participants were able to read more easily the instructions written in Arial font than the Brush font.
However, there is also a role for complex fonts that you can use in tactical sections of your ad copy to catch the attention of visitors. The aim of the complex fonts is to catch more eyeballs on your website, so you can also use them sparsely in your ad copy.
5. Anchoring can help rope in your customers
Anchoring is a marketing technique that uses the philosophy of neuroscience. It serves as a marketing bait to lure a potential customer into buying something at the intended price even though the actual price is much lower. What it does is convince the buyer into believing that something is worth investing money in. It uses a particular facet of the product as a value proposition to the potential buyer.
For example, if you want to sell a property at your intended rate that includes the profit you want to earn from the buyer. Let’s say the actual price of your property is $10,000 and you demand $20,000 dollars for the property.
So even if you settle the price at $15,000, the buyer would like to buy the property considering that they get a reduction of $5000. In this particular example, the buyer would be interested to buy the property based on its hyped worth, while the intrinsic value of the property is much lower.
Wrap up
These neuromarketing techniques seek to create a brand identity that can influence the actions of your visitors and make them buy your products. Right from the color selection and font style to audio branding and anchoring, you can put into practice all these techniques to tap into the cognitive biases of your target audience and invoke them to make a purchase.
Guest author: Jasmine Demeester
