Although neuromarketing is fairly new, brand communication and consumer insights have entered a "neuro" craze. Known for its high returns, neuromarketing refers to the application of neuroscience to the principles of marketing and uses a number of techniques to assess how consumers respond to their campaigns, advertisements, websites, and products.
Neuromarketing has many benefits for brands. Through understanding what triggers the subconscious mind, brands are able to market their products to appeal to their target market. EEG, fMRIs, eye-tracking, blood pressure monitoring and facial coding devices are tools used by neuromarketers to understand how consumers react to a product, and how they can stylise their brand image and advertisements to create positive associations.
With so many advances in neuromarketing, it can be hard to keep track of the latest developments in the industry. Here are some of the latest neuromarketing insights that brands have been using to transform their marketing strategies.
Peer Endorsement
As a marketer, you can’t deny the power of social media. Through the use of social media and social cues, brands can effectively leverage the power of social media to attract new clients. The neuromarketing principle here is that social influence and cues can have a positive effect on ad engagement, especially when selling the experience of goods and status.
Many consumers report that they often ignore Facebook ads. However, when they see that their friends have engaged with an ad or a service, they’re more likely to search for it or watch the ad. This is because psychologically, we like things liked by our friends or people we know.
Marketers can easily use this principle of neuromarketing to their benefit. Known as social advertising, it refers to the placement of social cues or endorsements—in this case, the social cue of a peer liking the Facebook ad—in advertisements shown to the friends of those who have engaged with a certain brand. This technique is used by both Facebook and Google—they both will show you ads that have been liked by your friends so that you’re likely to engage with them as well.
Showing a friend’s like in an ad can increase by up to 270% in the click-through rate for an ad on social media. Therefore, it's undeniable that social influence is vital to the effectiveness of social media advertising. With brands increasing their budget for social media advertising, using peer endorsements is a strategy that works best on status and experience goods, especially clothes, food, and cars.
First Impressions
First impressions are always important. Research reveals that first impressions can have a huge impact on conversions, brand experience, and sales.
Create a positive first impression of your brand through your product design. An overall positive brand experience can be created by stimulating four different dimensions of brand experience—namely cognitive, affective, behavioural, and sensory. Brands must keep their consumers engaged with their packaging at all times, especially due to the increase in online shopping and eCommerce in the past year.
Design your product and packaging in such a way that it's a whole new experience for your consumers. Employ the use of different textures, scents, and sounds in your packaging to completely engage your consumer. Add informational titbits and fun facts to keep the cognitive dimension of your consumer's brain engaged throughout the unboxing of your package.
Neuromarketing can be used to help in designing your product through eye-tracking and facial coding. Employ the use of neuromarketing tools and insights for marketing best practices. Make your product more engaging by placing text and images in such a way that the consumer is engaged throughout. Investing in packaging and design will help your brand create a unique customer experience and the first impression that’ll help increase your conversions.
Price Framing
When online shopping, most people categorize their products from lowest price to highest price. This reveals that pricing is a key element that influences a consumer's decision to purchase a product or a service. Since pricing is a huge factor in consumer behaviour and their decision-making process, brands and marketers can use the principles of neuromarketing to make a lasting impact and boost sales.
Research has shown that price differentials influence spending behaviour positively. When presented with two different products and prices, those products that highlighted price differences had higher sales, even though they were more expensive. When presented with an item that was marketed as “For only £x more!” 58% of subjects picked the pricier product. In the same study, when shown the same prices without emphasizing the price differential, only 42% chose the more expensive product.
This makes it clear that consumers focus more on the highlighted price or number, rather than the whole price. This is because the price differential is smaller as compared to the whole price, so it looked like a better deal. Marketers can use this technique to frame their product prices as differentials to pose a more attractive product to their consumers
The impact of neuromarketing techniques to improve branding is undeniable. Investing in and using the principles of neuromarketing will help you completely transform your brand. Using neuromarketing will increase consumer engagement, create lasting and effective impressions, and influence positive brand associations.
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