What is Neuromarketing? Everything You Need to Know

Neuromarketing is a prominent marketing technique for most of modern businesses. Companies practice this marketing theory to make their advertisement campaign successful.

The impact of neuromarketing is immense in the field of marketing. This term was introduced initially in 2002, but at present is a strategy that every company and business practices.

If you too want your business or company to make a difference by the way of neuromarketing, then take some time and focus on this post.

What is Neuromarketing?

Neuromarketing is an innovative form of marketing that utilizes medical technologies like fMRI or Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to study the responses of the brain to a marketing stimulus. This technique is used by the researchers to measure changes in the brain’s activities and to identify why consumers make certain buying decisions and what part of the brain tells them to make such decisions.

The technique of neuromarketing is used by marketing analysts to better measure the preferences of a consumer. It is because of the verbal response to a specific question or situation, like ‘Do you want to buy this product?’ may not always be true. Hence, the researchers use neuromarketing knowledge in order to design services and products as well as create marketing campaigns that are more focused on the positive response of the brain.

Neuromarketing informs marketers what the consumers react to, whether it is the sound of a box, packaging color, or anything else that their co-consumers are offering and that your product or services lack.

The technique of neuromarketing involves the application of neuroscience to marketing. It includes the direct utilization of brain scanning, imaging, or other activities of the brain measurement technology to measure the subjective response to a particular product, advertising, packaging, or other marketing aspects.

Often, the responses of the brain estimated by such techniques are not consciously perceived by the subject. Therefore, the information is more revealing that self-reporting on targeted groups, surveys, and more.

How Neuromarketing Works?

Being a broad scientific field, neuromarketing does not rely solely on one way. It rather depends on understanding the working of a consumer’s mind as well as learning how to act on it. The concept of neuromarketing aims to bring together the field of psychology, marketing, and neuroscience together.

Using this marketing theory is not an easy task. It is because the minds of consumers function in a complicated manner. And it is not necessary that humans may take the same decision under similar situations. In simple terms, there is a scientific theory behind what people think and do and neuromarketers intend to know how to use the results to their advantage.

However, in order to utilize neuromarketing effectively, it is necessary that marketers must possess knowledge about such things, or possess the ability to gather such knowledge themselves. In this context, the neuromarketers must be able to efficiently utilize different neuromarketing techniques.

Neuromarketing Techniques:

There are varieties of neuromarketing techniques available, which you can use to entice your customers to make a purchase. With the effective use of these neuromarketing techniques, it is possible for your business to stand out among your customer’s mind.

1. Brain Scans – functional MRIS or Electroencephalogram

With the first neuromarketing technique, it is possible for you to carry research, a step further. Using these techniques can help you know what exactly the people are looking for and provide you clues about what other people are thinking.

It involves utilizing special devices that can read the electromagnetic activity of the brain. These techniques are electroencephalograms (EEG) or functional MRIs.

With the help of these techniques, marketers can know about consumer’s preferences, whether they feel repelled or attracted by a specific feature, whether their brand bores or interests them. Eventually, you get answers to similar questions as conventional marketing researches, but with better precision and scientific confirmation.

Both these brain scanning techniques work slightly differently.

Functional MRI:

With this technique, it is possible to know exactly about the part of the brain that is being activated or have lower time accuracy.


It is an accurate and time-sensitive process that links a stimulant to its reaction almost instantly. That’s why it is so useful to determine out exactly the element that offers the feeling of purchase in the user. However, it might offer less precision in locating the area of the brain that causes a reaction.

2. Eye Tracking:

This is another technique that helps to analyze the buyer’s decision by tracking the eye movement. With this tool, it is possible for your brand or product so analyze what your customers feel about it through the reaction of movement of their eyes.

The research is done using eye-tracking devices which the modern customers are asked to wear during their purchasing. These devices are light and small. Using these devices can help brands to know about the following aspects:

  • The time of attention customers pays to their items as well as items belonging to the other brands.
  • The way customers distribute their attention when selecting a product among the large variety.
  • How deeply clients read the billboards and posters?
  • The way clients pay attention to product placement while watching television, and more.

3. Mind Tricks:

Next, we have a neuromarketing technique that affects the psychological tricks of the brain. This technique is practiced mainly to boost sales.

This form of technique is quite subtle. For example, removing the dollar or currency sign from the price tag has proven to make consumers more purchases. It is seen that currency symbols make people think a lot more about their loss than what they will be gaining. Hence, if the price is removed completely then this will encourage purchases.

4. Facial Coding:

The face is your soul’s mirror and neuromarketing converts the art of analyzing facial expressions into a scientific theory.

It is the same as the neuromarketing theory is used to measure brain activity and eye movement. This technique involves reading facial expressions with unexpected precision.

For example, when a customer displays anger, smiles, or deliver any other facial expression then it is done by using the facial muscles. With the help of sensors, the movement of minute muscles is precisely measured to detect the emotions and expressions.

It’s true that a small grin or smile doesn’t display the clear truth of what a person is exactly feeling at a particular movement. But the facial coding helps the marketers to read and interpret subtle reactions that offer insights on the opinions. Even, they are able to predict the behavior that follows these expressions.

5. Sensory Marketing:

Finally, we have a more functional and practical neuromarketing technique called Sensory Marketing. This technique is different from the above-mentioned investigating related techniques.

With the help of this technique, it is possible to impact consumers without letting them know what we are doing. There are distinct kinds of sensory marketing, like smell, touch, or sound. But no matter which sensor you pick, all of them influence the audience to think of a specific brand using the sensory stimulators.

One perfect example of sensory marketing is smell. Sometimes, the right fragrance can influence a customer’s senses, for instance, the smell of a fresh mayo or bread to attract people.

Another example is sound, which is an extremely useful resource. For instance, the consumers pay more attention to objects with light color when they hear sounds of high pitch. Similarly, customers pay attention to darker objects when they listen to low pitch sounds.

Neuromarketing Facts:

For businesses and marketers, neuromarketing can offer really amazing benefits. But to make sure that you get the maximum advantage, it is essential to know about some prominent neuromarketing facts.

1. A Brand Needs around 50 Milliseconds to Form an Impression on People

Even before you find out, consumers have already prepared their minds about your product or company. Around 50% of the processing power of their brain is used for visuals. So, in order to make the rich first impression, you must focus on appealing designs and visuals.

It is essential to present customers with high-quality design aesthetics and visuals to increase your brand engagement to them.

2. People Make 90% of their Buying Decisions in an Unconscious Mind:

Most of the people believe that they are immune to advertisements. However, this is not the case. Individuals are always in less control than what they think. They are not always rational with their purchasing decisions and hence fall prey to commercial influences.

Businesses must practice using the unconscious minds of the consumers and must use measurable tactics to stretch their brand.

3. The Decision Making Skills of Consumers are Guided in Subtle Ways

Emotions put a great impact on marketing. When people feel a certain way, they are motivated to act accordingly.

In marketing, everything that is visualized gets encoded with emotions and memories. When consumers are shopping they not only consider the physical attributes of a product but also consider its end worth.

The instinct based decisions cater to how human brains function during a purchase. Companies must use these decisions to shape their brand’s personality and promote their offerings.

4. The Average Attention Duration of Consumers is around 8 Seconds

In order to gather information and make decisions quickly, the attention span of consumers has decreased to 8 seconds. In order to win customer attention, it is essential to present the offerings that customers feel involved with.

5. Humans Better Perceive Meta-Communication

Meta-communication is a secondary form of communication and is an integral part of human interaction. It can be contradicted or congruent. While branding, it is essential to see what you say and how you say.

Every aspect of your brand communicates something. Hence, focus even on minute aspects of your brand as it can influence the consumer’s brain activity and ultimately the final decision.

Neuromarketing Examples:

To validate the effectiveness of neuromarketing in sales and business promotion, let us consider some examples.

1. Attractive Packaging:

We all are aware of the feeling of being attracted to the attractive packaging. Brands like Frito-Lay, Campbell and more have used neuromarketing to revamp their packaging after a study that revealed that customers deliver negative responses to shiny packaging.

Hence, with the help of neuromarketing technique, you can redesign your business presentation and product packaging.

2. Eye Gaze:

Another know a thing about neuromarketing is that ads including people are quite effective than in which people are nor present. For this reason, you will rarely find ads that have no people in it.

Even, advertisers use images and videos of adorable babies to boost their product sales. All this is by using the eye gazing neuromarketing.

3. Ad Efficiency:

Over the years, brain imaging was focused solely on academic or scientific aspects. However, neuromarketing has altered things and offered the advantage of fMRI to offer companies insights into consumer habits and human behavior.

One way neuromarketing has offered fMRI advantage is to compare the advertising campaigns before introducing them to the public. This way, it is possible to enhance marketing strategies, boost engagement and action.

4. Analyzing Satisfaction:

ERA and EEG imaging neuromarketing techniques are great to identify the emotional responses of a person in context to a particular advertisement, product, or service.

Our emotional arousal in context to an offering is invaluable to the advertisers. For instance, if you experience a high level of frustration while using a product then the company must avoid releasing it. With EEG, it is possible to evaluate the satisfaction level.

5. Color Coding:

When a business is deciding between colors, it must bear in mind that the same must be influencing potential customers. It is because different colors evoke varying emotions.

Effective utilization of the color palette is a strong marketing tool. One famous example of this is the red color of Coca Cola. Neuromarketing help businesses to know the responses of customers for various colors. This way, brands can use colors that are more effective in influencing the customer’s purchasing decision.

Now that you know almost everything about neuromarketing, you can use it in order to create effective marketing campaigns for your products and ensure that everything you do receives a positive response from the customers.

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