Most businesses keep track of what people are buying. But do you think the same companies would have a clue about ‘why’ the consumer bought what he bought? Well, the answer is a definite NO unless they follow ‘Neuromarketing.’ But, before we answer ‘How’, we need to answer ‘What’.
What is neuromarketing?
According to Wikipedia, ‘Neuromarketing is a new field of marketing research that studies consumers’ sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective response to marketing stimuli. Researchers use technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure changes in activity in parts of the brain, electroencephalography (EEG) and Steady state topography (SST) to measure activity in specific regional spectra of the brain response, and/or sensors to measure changes in one’s physiological state, also known as biometrics, including (heart rate and respiratory rate, galvanic skin response) to learn why consumers make the decisions they do, and what part of the brain is telling them to do it.’
In simple words, market researchers use neuroscientific methodologies and technology to understand consumer’s thoughts and buying decisions. Neuromarketing helps businesses to understand why consumers buy a product and also why they choose few products over others.
Uma R Karmarkar, Assistant Professor in Marketing and Neuroscience at Harvard Business School, in an interview with Forbes says “People are fairly good at expressing what they want, what they like, or even how much they will pay for an item. But they aren’t very good at accessing where that value comes from, or how and when it is influenced by factors like store displays or brands. Neuroscience can help us understand those hidden elements of the decision process.”
This calls for a need for businesses to incorporate neuromarketing techniques into their marketing strategies. With neuromarketing, companies will not just understand why consumers buy but would also aid them create advertisement and copy that compels consumers to buy.
Sands Research, a pioneer in neuromarketing research, has conducted a survey on commercials of Super Bowl 2013 and scored the top 5 most engaging ads. Check the ads below…
#1 Coca Cola “Security Camera”
Neuromarketing will revolutionize marketing and advertising. It will simplify messaging with the help of visuals and will also help define precisely the differentiating factors of a product against competition.
