How to get inside your customer's head.
It's marketing, not brain surgery… yet.
Marketers are constantly looking for a surefire way to connect with consumers, and this time, they may have found it… inside the human brain.
Using basic neuroscience techniques, marketers have begun using biometric testing to measure brain waves, skin response, eye movements, pulse rates and other physical reactions that show how emotionally engaged an audience is with an ad. So now, instead of relying on verbal responses from a focus group (a marketing research standard for the past few decades), marketers can gauge the effectiveness of messages based on unequivocal physical responses.
Biometric testing was a very hot topic at the Advertising Research Foundation's annual conference in April 2008. Attendees were extremely interested in popular business books like Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Buttons in Your Customer's Brain by Patrick Renvoise and Christophe Morin, and the seductive pitch from "neuroresearch" suppliers like Nielson's NeuroFocus or EmSense Corp.
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Why is this important? Because, as a marketer, you need to realize that this type of science and innovation could drastically change the way you do your job. And you can expect more breakthroughs like this to keep coming quickly… so you need to be prepared.
Biometrics can give you the unique ability to know exactly how audiences will react to your messages. And that kind of emotional engagement with your ads is critical to having an impact on your target demographic. If you don't believe it, consider some of the companies that are already exploring the use of biometrics — Coca Cola, Virgin Mobile, Nintendo and Miller Brewing, to name a few.
But before you start sticking electrodes on people, there are a few substantial considerations. First, it is still an unproven method (although early results have been impressive). Second, it is expensive (minimum of about $200,000 to test a campaign). And third, if you spend a fortune on production and then biometrics tell you that your ads aren't engaging enough, will you be prepared to scrap the campaign and start over?
This is just a heads-up for you. Don't be surprised as more and more technological advancements pop up in the marketing industry. There's still no substitute for solid and strategic business planning, but any advantage you can get is a good one.
So for all of us who have ever wished we could "pick the brain of the target audience," just remember that, unlike brain surgery, there's no such thing as major marketing insurance.
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