Did you know that even our nervous excitement can influence our shopping behavior? Unplanned purchases represent up to 68% of the total number of purchases. Brand loyalty has long been a minority issue and only 5% of customers are truly loyal to their brand. Want to know more?
Did you know that even our nervous excitement can influence our shopping behavior? Unplanned purchases represent up to 68% of the total number of purchases. Brand loyalty has long been a minority issue and only 5% of customers are truly loyal to their brand. Want to know more?
Neuromarketing is a new field of marketing that tries to investigate the impact of marketing stimuli on the reactions of customers and consumers at the same time. These are cognitive, affective and sensorimotor stimuli.
He studies and investigates the functions of the brain when deciding on the purchase of goods. It tries to find out how the brain reacts to certain specific marketing stimuli induced by commercial companies and advertising agencies. It is a tool with which we try to find out the real and true preferences of the consumer, i.e. find the so-called purchase trigger . From this point of view, the effect on the consumer is subliminal.
Neuromarketing uses the following tools/methods to research information:
- FMRI – magnetic resonance – this technique uses an MRI scanner to measure signals dependent on blood oxygenation levels,
- EEG – electroencephalography – uses electrodes applied to the skin on the top of the head and measures changes in the electric field in the brain region, measures the specific activity of brain spectra or changes in the physiological state (galvanic skin reactions, heart rates, breathing rates),
- MEG – magnetoencephalography – measures changes in the magnetic field induced by neuronal activities in some parts of the cerebral cortex,
- TMS – transcranial magnetic stimulation – uses an iron core wrapped in electrical wires that is placed on the head and creates a magnetic field strong enough to induce electrical currents in neurons,
- Eye tracking.
The concept of neuromarketing was developed by American psychologists at Harvard University in 1990. The concept is based on the thesis that the dominant thinking part of human activity (90%), including emotions, takes place in the subconscious, which is below the level of controllable consciousness.
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Companies such as Google, CBS and Frito-Lay are already actively using neuromarketing analytics and transforming their results into their marketing strategies and campaigns.
Learning about neuromarketing quickly increases sales effectiveness by activating the buying trigger in customers. Its other advantages include:
- Delivers convincing sales presentations,
- Shortens the sales cycle,
- Increases the success of closing a deal,
- Creates effective marketing strategies,
- Increases sales and profits of businesses,
- Radically improves the ability to influence others.
The great currency of neuromarketing is its wide use even in the non-commercial marketing sphere. We can find application in social and political marketing, every SEO agency .
Object of neuromarketing research and its methodology:
Neuromarketing practices are based on the study of the human brain. It consists of two hemispheres. The left hemisphere is the center of linear thinking such as language, logic and mathematics. The right hemisphere is the center of emotions, feelings, art, creativity and inspiration. In addition, we can distinguish three levels of the human brain:
- New brain – processes rational data and information,
- Midbrain – processes emotions and internal instinctive feelings,
- The old brain (hypothalamus) – takes into account the inputs from the previous two brains, in fact it is the trigger of the decision. This is our vestigial brain, which is still present in reptiles. It is often referred to as the first brain, as it develops first, while the new brain is created until our 24th year of life.
An important conclusion in research in the field of neuromarketing is the finding that individual human beings make decisions in an emotional way and only then justify them rationally. Moreover, the final decision of every customer and consumer is triggered by the old brain. There are 6 stimuli that affect the old brain and that give us the “key” to unlocking the decision-making process:
- Egocentrism – the old brain reacts to events and stimuli that concern only itself,
- Contrast – sensitivity to clear contrast (e.g. before – after, without – with, fast – slow) allows the old brain to make quick decisions without risk,
- Material stimulus – the old brain’s inability to process the written form of language requires material input to support decision-making,
- Beginning and end – the old brain records the beginning and the end, so it is essential to give information at the beginning and repeat it at the end,
- visual stimuli,
- Emotions.
The mentioned 6 stimuli can be transformed into 4 fundamental steps – procedures that will ensure penetration into the old brain:
- Diagnosing a problem with the aim of creating a report/link that specifically shows how to solve or eliminate this problem,
- Differentiating claims to express the contrast between a company’s specific offering and its competitors,
- Demonstration of the benefit of a specific solution towards customers,
- Communication towards the old brain through the above 6 stimuli.
The drive for a detailed understanding and knowledge of certain generally applicable patterns in customer decision-making and behavior is the engine of generating ever new research approaches. Neuromarketing is a field of marketing that examines customer reactions to individual marketing stimuli by monitoring brain activity. It thus brings new research techniques with the potential to reveal hitherto hidden information in the human mind.
However, the relevance of its results is still subject to research-based proof. Likewise, in connection with the development of neuromarketing analysis of the consumer mind, the issue of compliance with ethics in the sense of maintaining customer protection is also discussed. A barrier from the application point of view is also the necessary technological equipment, which results in the financial difficulty of implementation. However, the potential of a new kind of information about consumer behavior obtained by neuromarketing methods is certainly an interesting contribution to marketing practice. Also, advertising on the Internet can significantly draw and profit from this new marketing approach.
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