Warrier Wala's Test + Learn

Neuromarketing sits at the junction of traditional marketing thinking and behavioural economics

The behavioural approach is based on the assumption that human economic decision-making does not follow traditional (rational) guidelines. People are influenced by heuristics and biases, rather than by pure calculation of costs and benefits. The message of behavioural economics to marketing is clear: if you want to influence people’s actions in general, start looking for paths to build intrinsic relationships with your audience. This means that, to understand the relationship between marketing and behavioural economics, it is necessary firstly to define what a ‘relationship’ should be.

Within this, there is a role for neuromarketing, which studies the way the way the human brain responds to different types of marketing stimuli and methods of advertisement. It also looks at ways of influencing consumer behaviour. Neuromarketing focuses on how our brains process decisions and form preferences, as well as how we respond to certain stimuli such as advertising or persuasive messages. It is a relatively new field within the marketing industry and is a powerful method of persuasion.

Neuro-marketing studies how advertising affects consumers’ brains, by noting changes in brain activity using tools such as MRI scans. It has been used to help advertisers learn how to most effectively persuade potential customers with particular traits.

For example, neuromarketing helps to understand which stimulus is most effective in a given situation. Marketing professionals may use this data to understand the tastes and preferences of their potential consumers. With this information, marketers can help customers pick out components of their campaigns like forms, colors, and images.

Neuromarketing is also used to gauge consumers’ perception of products or services by using different stimuli. It helps marketers target the right audience with the best message about their product, in order to influence buying behaviour.

In marketing terms, neuro-marketing can be used to help brands understand their customers and how they respond emotionally to certain triggers. However, it is important to note, going back to rational consumer theory, that noted triggers in the human mind are not always directly related to this stimuli – rather, a result of a collection of multi-sensory factors in that particular moment. Looking at a purple rectangle doesn’t mean you will think of a chocolate bar, your brain could be reacting to the uncomfortable chair you are sitting on as well. However, with sufficient data, patterns emerge and the accuracy of marketing planning can be improved.

Neuromarketing is not to be seen as a new scientific field replacing Neoclassical, Neostructuralist and Neofunctionalist paradigms; rather, it should be understood as an extension of Neoclassical (marketing) thinking that seeks to update the traditional marketing mix with neuroscientific insights. Neuromarketing is not a new concept and as such, has plenty of sceptics. Retailers have been using data to predict trends and predict future trends for many years now – but it’s only recently the effect on the human mind has been studied so thoroughly that the volume of data can allow any valuable inference. With this research, we can place greater emphasis on stimuli than ever before, progressively improving the test-and-learn approach that any experienced marketer values.

Neuromarketing is changing how we think about marketing. In a world where traditional, linear business models are being turned on their head – this research is invaluable. It can’t be viewed independently of behavioural economics – which deals with human decision-making, but it’s a way to quantify the effect of stimuli on the mind and measure a customer’s response. Understanding this has become increasingly important for businesses as they look to further align methods of advertising with customer expectations. The practice places emphasis on measuring data rather than impressions, testing stimulus rather than opinions and investing in what works rather than guessing.

Neuromarketing can be used as a way to quantify customer responses and measure their satisfaction with the stimuli. It offers an opportunity to test stimulus against expectations of consumers, allowing businesses to invest in what will elicit a response beyond mere opinions.

So is Neuromarketing for your brand?

Neuromarketing is a relatively new branch of marketing that bridges the gap between companies and what makes their consumers tick. Neuromarketing research looks at how people actually respond to different stimulus, which gives marketers the chance to improve upon the old adage ‘people don’t always tell you what they think’. In fact, quite to the contrary, there is evidence that humans under certain situations will tend to provide responses of an idealistic version of themselves – when in fact their own decision making capacity may waver from the utopia of perceived “ideal”.

Neuromarketing as a discipline calls for the use of applied science and technology to explore how the brain works in real world situations. Neuromarketing is an evidence-based approach, which means that every idea must be tested against actual consumer feedback before it can be implemented. Neuromarketing research operates on both conscious and subconscious scales and its data is used to test everything from cars to colognes.

Neuromarketing studies help companies understand their customers’ decision-making processes, refine marketing tactics, determine what type of advertising actually gets people excited about products or services, learn why consumers make certain purchasing decisions, or even create completely new product categories that respond to previously unidentified customer needs.

The variable of inherent versus deduced perspective

The importance of sustained investment in brand and the lifetime value that this can bring. Neuromarketing and neuroscience in general will allow marketers to better understand what happens at a behavioural level; by building more accurate models of purchase decision-making, Neuromarketers should be able to make recommendations regarding pricing, product design and future customer acquisition strategies. Neuromarketers – like the Neoclassicists before them – seek to gain an understanding of how people behave when they interact with their brands and products.

Neuromarketing is similar to Neoclassical economics in its reliance on quantitative research through controlled environments outside of real-world customer settings using standardized experimental designs.

With great power comes great responsibility

The risk of treating it as the golden goose of market research would be a huge fallacy. Rather, the more ‘neuro-technical’ assessments (EEG, MRI, pupil movement etc.) used in combination with existing methods – interviews, surveys, focus groups will allow for a better refinement of the actual response that campaigns can elicit from their audience.

Neuromarketing is relevant for modern marketers as it provides a way of measuring customers’ responses they might not be able to verbalize; neuromarketed campaigns that aim at selling authentic products can achieve higher success rates than those that do not bother with authenticity.

Neuromarketing’s value lies in translating our understanding of biology and physiology into business applications, so it sits at the intersection between behavioural economics and traditional marketing thinking. By better understanding how people behave when they interact with their brands and products, Neuromarketing can enable brands to enhance perceptions and in fact enable audiences to purchase products they truely desire, as authentic brands put out authentic messages and for genuine grounded partnerships.