Visual behavior holds valuable information about consumer behavior and preferences. This is because the eye naturally gravitates to what the mind finds most engaging. So logically, market researchers have worked on ways to harness this valuable information. One way to do this is through Eye Tracking Studies.
This process tracks eye movement, documenting exactly what items in a specified set the consumer is unconsciously drawn to, helping market researchers gain some insights into this split-second decision-making process.
Benefits of Eye Tracking Studies in Market Research
- Evaluate Packaging: Obviously, many consumers purchase products based on their own personal research. Others, however, make impulse purchases, based off of an emotional response to a product and its packaging. So how do companies make sure their packaging is aesthetically appealing? Eye tracking studies!
- Evaluate Advertising: Advertisements need to first capture the consumer’s attention and then convince them to buy a particular product or service. But if the ad does not first capture the consumer’s attention, then it is a complete failure. This holds true for television, print and online. Eye tracking studies allow companies to test the effectiveness of their potential campaigns before running them.
- Measure Consumer Engagement: Consumer engagement has always been a difficult concept to track and analyze. That was until eye tracking studies came along. Eye trackers can also measure how long consumers look at a certain place (i.e. visual on your packaging) and therefore how engaged they are.
Eye-tracking does not tell the whole story. It cannot tell a market researcher what a consumer is thinking about a particular package or advertisement. But eye tracking is still a powerful research tool, giving researchers a good idea of what consumers are naturally drawn to.
Eye tracking is just one more technology that is fundamentally changing the way market researchers serve their clients. Check back next week as we take a closer look at another Technology in Market Research: Social Media.
To learn more, please contact Barbara Gassaway and the market research specialists at Observation Baltimore today by calling 410-332-0400 or click here! And if you are interested in participating in a future focus group, sign up at www.observationbaltimore/getpaid.
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