Research Methodologies

September 30, 2022

How neuromarketing research aids understanding of non-conscious choice

Emotions perform numerous crucial roles in our everyday lives. Through the expression of emotions we manifest our feelings, we signal our intentions, but at the same time, we contaminate ourselves…

How neuromarketing research aids understanding of non-conscious choice
Marlena Pracalo

by Marlena Pracalo

Research Project Manager at NEUROHM

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Emotions perform numerous crucial roles in our everyday lives. Through the expression of emotions we manifest our feelings, we signal our intentions, but at the same time, we contaminate ourselves with other people’s emotions (Hatfield, 1994). Emotions also serve as the affective underpinning for a range of attitudes, values, and beliefs we have about the world around us and other individuals. Most importantly, emotions motivate our behaviour (Lerner et al., 2015). This function is widely discussed in the literature on the subject due to its impact on purchasing decisions. Although in most surveys, consumers declare that they use common sense when shopping, e.g. by comparing product prices, in reality, many of their decisions are driven by unconscious emotions (Friese et al., 2009). Historically, measuring emotions and attitudes that consumers are unaware of or unwilling to express has been one of the main methodological challenges. Answers to these questions have been found by neuroscience.

Visual attention comes first

Most of us have experienced a situation in which, standing in front of dozens of ready-to-eat meals only one could become our lunch. Although we think we chose the spinach pasta consciously, we selectively direct our attention to its packaging. As visual attention is humans’ primary way of perceiving the surrounding world, we passively scan for colour, brightness, and movement (Frey et al., 2008). Researchers discussing this topic postulate that colour stimulus can affect both attention and motor response (Kuniecki et al., 2015), emotional state (Wilms & Oberfeld, 2018), and improves the recognition of the stimuli (Spence et al., 2006). However, the question remains: What made you decide to have spinach pasta for lunch?

Emotionally charged saturation

In 2022, the owner of a well-known vegan brand contacted us and outlined a concern that was keeping him awake at night. The process of launching the company’s new product was nearing completion, but the Client had a gut feeling that the final design of the new product packaging might not appeal to consumers. Although the new packaging design had been outvoted internally, he did not want to risk lower sales based solely on the colour preferences of co-workers. As a consequence, the Client asked for our support in conducting a packaging survey to resolve a dispute which had lasted for several months. Eventually, two nearly identical packaging proposals, which differed only in colour saturation, were prepared. The aim of the study was to find out which packaging was more engaging for consumers and easier to recognize in the maze of products on the shelf.

One of the packages had a higher colour saturation, fading into orange, so it could stand out on the product shelf and be associated with freshness, which was of paramount importance to the Client. The second one was much paler and could evoke an association with naturalness. Admittedly, it was quite a challenge for the Client to compare almost identical packages and determine which was better. However, for neuroscientific methods, it was an interesting challenge. In order to identify better packaging, the problem was approached holistically, using complementary neuroscience-based methods. Among the methods used were:

  • For execution examination: Neuro Test, which enables more accurate measurement of consumers’ reactions by recording brain wave activity (EEG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and eye-tracking (ET). Thanks to second-by-second tracking accuracy of the above psychophysiological reactions we are able to track emotional engagement and level of arousal during the exposition to the tested stimuli and identify the source of these reactions.
  • For communication examination: Reaction Time Measurement, these algorithms estimate how long people hesitate when expressing an opinion. Greater confidence indicates a well-established attitude, and ultimately, it can lead to actual behaviour. It is scientifically rooted in the dual-processing model (Kahneman, 2013), attitudes’ accessibility (Fazio, 1989), and the theory of memory trace consolidation (Hebb, 1949), which can bridge the gap between what people say and actually do.

Where to begin?

Related

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As mentioned above, the Client was not enthusiastic about launching a new product based on internal discussions. Instead of rolling the dice (and the money), the Client decided to address the following research questions in four areas:

  1. Engagement (Does your product evoke positive emotions in consumers?)
  2. Visibility (Do consumers recognize the product on the shelf?)
  3. Graphic elements (Are relevant elements noticeable? Are they noticed in the right order?)
  4. Communication (What values does your product convey?).

Following these key questions, firstly, we verified which of the two packages evoked more positive emotions upon direct contact, considering our observations that the colour presented by digital media may be perceived slightly differently than in reality. Secondly, we presented both packages on the computer screen.

1. Engagement

The Neuro Test results revealed that the first packaging (with a higher colour saturation) evoked mostly positive emotions in direct contact, on the contrary, the second one (paler) evoked only negative emotions. Moreover, the first package strongly engaged consumers emotionally from the very beginning of the exposition.

It turned out that displaying the packaging on a computer screen intensified the emotions even more. The first package strongly engaged respondents emotionally for over 40% of the entire exposure to the product. In addition, positive emotions were noticed from the first seconds of contact. The same pattern continued with the second packaging. Negative emotions aroused during direct contact were even stronger when the packaging was displayed on the screen (see Figure 1). These findings demonstrate the tremendous potential of packaging in digital marketing.

2. Visibility

In a subsequent step, we verified the noticeability of both packages on shop shelves. The analysis of visual attention (ET) showed that the first packaging was noticed by a higher percentage of respondents within the first three seconds of contact in comparison to the second packaging. Thus, let’s take a look at the hierarchy of perception results for the two tested package candidates.

3. Graphic elements

The Neuro Test indicated that the first packaging evoked emotional engagement for three components: name of the product (1), benefits (3), and logo (4). Moreover, the product evoked positive emotions from the first seconds of contact. On the contrary, the second package evoked neutral emotions for all tested packaging elements. Furthermore, an analysis of the hierarchy of perception showed that the logo was noticed last and by only 30% of the participants. It seems that the second packaging neither engaged respondents while interacting with important elements nor were they noticed in the right order (see Figure 2).

4. Communication

Since what customers “say” often does not coincide with what they “do”, methods that go beyond declarations are becoming increasingly popular. Reaction Time Measurement, which we applied for examining the communication of the packaging, can be an outstanding example.

We tested the packages in the context of willingness to eat as well as the values important from the customer’s point of view such as freshness and naturalness. Whereas the two packages performed similarly at the declarative level, the response time results emphasised the significant differences between them. Most importantly, packaging one was perceived as more fresh and natural. Moreover, it encouraged to eat the product as strongly as the second packaging (see Figure 3).

Seeing through emotions

The findings highlight the undeniable importance of neuromarketing research. Applying a holistic approach not only allowed us to identify the undisputed winner – i.e. the first package, which not only elicited the strongest positive engagement in direct and indirect contact but was also noticed by a higher percentage of respondents on the shop shelf, with elements generating positive engagement. Moreover, results showed, that the first package was perceived as more fresh, which was the most important value for the brand. In summary, by applying neuroscience methods to packaging research, the Client made the right marketing decision, which saved not only money but also more sleepless nights.

Most importantly, all the aforementioned differences in perception of packaging were driven by one factor – the colour of the packaging. Interestingly, during the packaging exposure, respondents reported that they were shown the same packaging twice, indicating that colour differences were not noticed at a conscious level. It appears that emotions were the deciding factor in choosing the first package and your spinach pasta for lunch. So, next time you have to make a decision in front of a shop shelf, close your rational eyes and take a look at your emotions!

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References

Fazio, R. H. (1989). On the power and functionality of attitudes: The role of attitude accessibility. In A. R. Pratkanis, S. J. Breckler, & A. G. Greenwald (Eds.), Attitude structure and function (pp. 153–179). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Frey, H. P., Honey, C., & Konig, P. (2008). What’s color got to do with it? The influence of color on visual attention in different categories. Journal of Vision8(14), 6-6. https://doi.org/10.1167/8.14.6

Friese, M., Hofmann, W., & Wänke, M. (2009). The impulsive consumer: Predicting consumer behavior with implicit reaction time measures. In M. Wänke (Ed.), Social psychology of consumer behavior (pp. 335-364). Psychology Press.

Hatfield, E., Cacioppo, J. T., & Rapson, L. R. (1994). Emotional contagion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hebb, D. O. (1949). The Organisation of Behaviour. NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Kahneman, D. (2013). Thinking, Fast and Slow (First Edition). Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Kuniecki, M., Pilarczyk, J., & Wichary, S. (2015). The color red attracts attention in an emotional context. An ERP study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00212

Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., Valdesolo, P., & Kassam, K. S. (2015). Emotion and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 799-823. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115043

Spence, I., Wong, P., Rusan, M., & Rastegar, N. (2006). How color enhances visual memory for natural scenes. Psychological science, 17(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01656.x

Wilms, L., & Oberfeld, D. (2018). Color and emotion: Effects of hue, saturation, and brightness. Psychological Research82(5), 896-914. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-017-0880-8

 

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data visualizationemotional measurementneuromarketingpackaging researchpurchase intent

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