As an emerging field, neuromarketing has the potential to make your campaigns resonate with users, making them very memorable. Scroll down to learn:
- What is neuromarketing?
- 3 incredible neuromarketing examples that are sure to inspire you
- 4 actionable neuromarketing tips you can implement today
70% of customers who feel emotionally connected to a brand spend twice as much on purchases, and over 80% of this group will also recommend their preferred brands to friends and family; this is why it is essential to engage customers on an emotional, deeply personal level.
By Chiradeep BasuMallick Freelance Contributor , Ziff Davis B2B
We often follow industry practices and traditional “rules of thumb” instead of relying on scientifically proven techniques. Let’s start by asking — is my new website with end-to-end material design really what my customers want? Are detailed tables for product comparisons getting the intended message across? These are impossible to answer without an acute and accurate understanding of human psychology, pertaining specifically to your targeted customer segment.
This is where neuromarketing comes in. It is an emerging field of marketing strategy that applies insights from human psychology research to marketing campaigns. Let’s find out what this concept means, brands who have successfully utilized it, and neuromarketing tips that you could implement in your next campaign.
What is Neuromarketing?
Neuromarketing aims to link purchase trends and engagement patterns with emotional stimuli. Interestingly, it often serves to debunk popular myths around consumer behavior, as we’ll see in one of our neuromarketing examples.
It begins with a hypothesis around which emotional stimuli will work best in a specific scenario. This is either validated or negated via focused groups, and the insights are finally integrated into the marketing campaign. Leading brands such as Coco-Cola have even invested in their own neuromarketing labs! While this concept has been around since the early 2000s, it was in 2010 that researcher Leon Żurawicki proposed the predominance of subconscious drivers over conscious reasoning, when it comes to making purchase decisions. In other words, your customer is more likely to have an intuitive, effortless, and “on-the-fly” reaction to your brand, long before engaging in product research.
Neuromarketing, as an effective customer engagement and persuasion technique, becomes more feasible when you consider that 95% of purchase decisions are controlled by our subconscious, according to Gerald Zaltman, Professor, Harvard Business School.
Many global organizations have applied neuromarketing into on-ground campaigns, leveraging its many complex psychometric threads. Let’s look at three neuromarketing examples that demonstrate its capabilities.
Three Examples of Neuromarketing in Action
Here are some instances of neuromarketing and how it works wonders when applied intelligently. These could serve as genuinely insightful neuromarketing tips.
1.The National Cancer Institute’s emotionally fine-tuned ad
The National Cancer Institute was looking to create a commercial that would evoke a strong response from viewers and encourage them to quit smoking. The organization presented three ad variants to the participants of a focus group study, coupled with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). An fMRI measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow, in response to environmental stimuli. Based on the fMRI data, the three ad campaigns were ranked and the most effective one was selected to increase call volumes to the National Cancer Institute’s hotline number. The three ad campaigns had varying results with an overall significant rise in call volumes, ranging from 2.8% to 32% increase.
This neuromarketing example indicates the immense potential of fMRI — and other tests such as electroencephalogram (EEG) — to influence marketing campaigns.
2.Cheetos leveraged a neuromarketing hack to reveal hidden drivers
Cheetos came up with a slightly controversial campaign that depicted a person playing a prank by adding a handful of Cheetos to a dryer full of white clothes, resulting in someone’s laundry being ruined. The focus group reported disliking the ad, possibly because they did not appreciate the casually spiteful nature of the content.
However, when running an EEG, Cheetos found that the audience actually loved the ad, and responded to it on an emotional level. The reason respondents said they didn’t like it was out of fear of being judged for liking the cruel prank. The campaign was, in fact, a success, as it linked the brand to mischief and thrill-seeking.
Marketers could jump to a specific conclusion in certain cases, which are later invalidated by neuromarketing tests. That’s why such techniques serve as an effective control mechanism, guiding new ideas and channeling investments in the right direction. Watch the video here:
3.Patron turned the familiar into the slightly unknown and exciting
According to the findings of neuromarketing, consumers react positively to familiar taglines and catchphrases that have been intelligently “twisted” for brand resonance. There’s even a term for it —Hippocampal Headlines! There are many instances of this neuromarketing tip being used by brands across the world, including the popular “Practice makes Patron.”
Source: Pinterest.com
The Patron Ad Banner
The Tequila brand took an accepted adage, altering it slightly to drive home the refinement and focus on perfection that’s integral to their brand. The headline worked extremely well for the brand and stands out till this day as one of the best examples of such a tagline.
As a marketer, find innovative ways to make neuromarketing part of your campaigns. Here are some neuromarketing tips to get you started.
4 Neuromarketing Tips You Can Use in Marketing Campaigns
Now that you’re familiar with how leading organizations are using neuromarketing, here are four actionable tips to incorporate this technique:
1. Work on your brand’s subconscious image
Your customers process advertising content, even if they aren’t looking to buy a product. It can be helpful to embed brand-specific elements (such as logos, company colors, or hashtags) into every asset across every channel, online or offline.
2. Turn images into a Call to Action (CTA)
With so much content available online, it’s getting harder to capture user attention. Don’t let CTAs such as know more links, downloads, product redirects, etc. get lost in text-heavy content. Leverage image banners with clickable buttons and overlay imagery wherever possible for maximum relatability.
3. Gain from FOMO – the “fear of missing out”
This neuromarketing tip is specifically useful if you’re in retail, FMCG, or the online services industry. Share targeted messages via emails, push notifications, or even SMS, mentioning limited-time discounts, exclusive offers, and upcoming events. This will create a sense of urgency among your customers.
4. Speak to your customer’s “confirmation bias”
We tend to seek confirmation for our existing beliefs and only explore contrary ideas when faced with tangible proof. This means that your customers are already approaching the brand with a specific set of notions and expectations about your products or services, which you only need to reaffirm to ensure conversion.
Send out interactive emailers that solicit survey responses and feedback to measure qualitative customer requirements. Follow this up with product messaging that aligns your product with the traits your customers are looking for.
Wrapping Up
While it might be a relatively new concept, and not all organizations have resources dedicated to neuromarketing research, the insights derived from neuromarketing studies are widely applicable. Such findings are sure to be of great help to marketers as they dig deeper and delve into what really works while designing a campaign. In the end, remember, the intent is to find out what your customer truly wants, and then serve it to them.
This article originally appeared in MarTech Advisor. Photo by Hammer & Tusk on Unsplash.
