Plugging Neuroscience Into Marketing

Until now, marketers have relied heavily on users’ explicit responses and feedback to mobile applications to determine whether their mobile commerce efforts have hit the mark. However, with so many variables, external expectations and preconceived notions weighing on people’s responses, traditional research methods like focus groups can be notoriously unreliable. So, Plastic Mobile and True Impact Neuromarketing conducted a study that applied neuroscience (study of the brain’s response to stimuli) to user experience to explore what users actually saw, thought and felt when following the customer journey in three transaction-based mobile applications. By connecting sensors to designated areas of the brain, they determined which stages of a mobile transaction elicit positive or negative emotions and which areas received the most attention. The findings can help marketers and user experience designers optimize every precious pixel.