How Neuroscience Affects Customers' Buying Behaviors

4/20/2021 How Neuroscience Affects Customers’ Buying Behaviors
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Single Grain > Customers > Neuromarketing 101: How Neuroscience Affects
Customers’ Buying Behaviors
Neuromarketing 101: How

Neuroscience Affects Customers’
Buying Behaviors
ANA GOTTER
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Marketing is all about understanding consumers' behaviors, needs and

motivations and then delivering an experience that aligns with all those
points. It’s why I always stress honing in on your customers’ pain points
when writing copy, and why marketers will test every different ad format
under the sun to see what their audiences respond to.
This means that marketers who have a solid understanding of consumer

behavior and psychology are typically going to be the most effective at
creating strong, customer-centric campaigns. Neuromarketing takes this
concept to a whole new level, as it allows you to create marketing
materials that resonate with your audience from a cognitive place.
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In this post, we’re going to go over everything you need to know about
Find out more. Okay, thanks
neuromarketing and how you can use it to evaluate and potentially
https://www.singlegrain.com/digital-marketing/neuromarketing-101-how-neuroscience-affects-customers-buying-behaviors/ 1/24
neuromarketing and how you can use it to evaluate and potentially
influence your customers’ buying decisions.
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What Is Neuromarketing?
To understand neuromarketing, let's first take a look at what neuro‐
science is:
“Neuroscience, also known as Neural Science, is the study of how the

nervous system develops, its structure and what it does.
Neuroscientists focus on the brain and its impact on behavior and
cognitive functions.”
Source
With this in mind, we can better comprehend the neuromarketing

definition:
“Neuromarketing is essentially designing marketing materials

(including your website, ads, email campaigns and content) to evoke
specific neurological reactions that trigger emotions or responses
that are linked to purchasing ”
that are linked to purchasing.
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This diagram from Emotiv illustrates the concept of neuromarketing as it
relates to prices:
The idea is to understand how your customers’ brains are actually

working (not how you assume they are working) and how they’re
registering your marketing content. You can use this information to
optimize your content accordingly and adjust your strategies, thereby
improving the effectiveness of your marketing.
Although neuromarketing may sound incredibly advanced, it’s nothing

new or unusual; the term was coined in 2002, although it’s only gained
validity in more recent years. You may have heard it being called
consumer neuroscience or decision science.
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worth noting that major corporations like Hyundai have used this
4/20/2021
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How Neuroscience Affects Customers’ Buying Behaviors
technology when designing everything from their ad campaigns to the

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products and packaging themselves.
Related Content:
How to Design the UX of a Website or App to Increase Conversions
7 Mistakes in UI and UX That Are Costing You Engagement
How Does Neuromarketing Work?
Neuromarketing isn’t just about basic strategy. You can actually invest in
high-level research to see how real consumers are responding
neurologically to your real campaigns.
In an early study from Temple University, scientists used eight methods to

test this theory, including traditional surveys, eye tracking, heart rate,
breathing, brain activity (with fMRI: functional Magnetic Resonance
Imaging) and brain waves (with EEG: electroencephalography):
fMRI it b i ti it b i bl dfl th bj
https://www.singlegrain.com/digital-marketing/neuromarketing-101-how-neuroscience-affects-customers-buying-behaviors/ t 4/24
fMRIs monitor brain activity by assessing blood flow as the subjects
respond
Single to audio and visual cues. Researchers will watch to see if they’re
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eliciting the emotional responses they’re hoping for.
If they wanted to adopt out puppies, for example, they’d hopefully see the
pleasure center of the brain light up, but if they want to create an ad that
evokes fear so customers will buy their security system, they may want to
look for a fear-based neurological response.
EEGs are much cheaper than MRIs and work by using a cap of electrodes
that’s attached to the person's scalp, evaluating the electrical waves that
the brain produces. Researchers are able to track instinctual emotions like
excitement, lust and anger based on the fluctuations in electrical waves.
Keep in mind that, while effective, EEGs can’t give researchers a read on
the deeper parts of the brain where the pleasure center is located.
In addition to fMRIs and EEGs, businesses may use the following

techniques for neuromarketing research:
Gaze mapping. With the use of glasses, screens, VR and even

heatmapping, you can see where consumers are looking most often.
You can use this for online marketing content, but you can even supply
customers with portable glasses to track where their gaze is going as
soon as they walk into your store. Are they actually looking at the
signage or are they missing your high-value offers because they’re
tucked just out of sight?
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Facial expressions. You can actually attach sensors to the face and
measure tiny movements in the subject's facial muscles. Even the subtle
expressions of surprise, anger and joy can be detected, helping to
assess the emotions you’re triggering.
Biometrics. This method uses sensors to monitor changes in facial
expressions, heart rate and other physiological responses to stimuli.
Neuromarketing Research vs General Neuromarketing

Principles
If you don’t want to strap sensors to your own customers and stick them in
MRI machines, using established, general neuromarketing principles is still
a viable solution.
Many businesses using neuromarketing won’t run tests themselves to see

how their ads are performing, but instead will use marketing methods
that are backed by psychological research. Plenty of designers, for
example, will consider color psychology when choosing their color
palettes:
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There are small changes that we know can make an impact on

perception and consumer behavior, such as:
People tend to choose healthy food options when displayed on the left

side of the menu.
Large, open spaces in luxury stores are associated with high social

status.
Removing dollar signs from price listings can actually boost sales.
It’s not just about visual changes, either. In marketing, you can also use
sensory cues like touch, sound and smell to influence buying decisions. It’s
part of the reason why Disney pumps their resorts full of gingerbread
scents around Christmas, knowing that it will make people feel more at
home.
Fun fact: Did you know that consumers will actually pay more attention to
light-colored objects when they hear high-pitched sounds, whereas they'll
pay more attention to dark-colored objects when they hear low-pitched
sounds?
How Is Neuromarketing Useful in Marketing

Research?
Neuromarketing can be exceptionally useful when it comes to marketing
research. If it weren't, we wouldn’t have big brands like Google, HP,

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Microsoft, Frito-Lay, Hyundai, CBS and ESPN investing in it so much.
The ability to measure physiological consumer responses to everything

from a product’s packaging to the ad with which you are promoting it is
valuable, especially when you follow up with an in-depth interview about
why the consumer felt the way they did. This can give you incredible
insight into how effective your current campaigns are and what you can
do to improve them.
Is Neuromarketing a More Accurate Way to Research?
Neuromarketing can clearly provide valuable insights into how the

consumer is feeling and thinking, which can help you shape your
campaigns.
One company, NeuroFocus (a neuromarketing company that was

acquired by Nielsen in 2011), rose to fame by conducting neurological tests
for consumer research with a product called Mynd, “the world’s first
portable, wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) scanner. The skullcap-size
device sports dozens of sensors that rest on a subject’s head like a crown
of thorns. It covers the entire area of the brain…so it can comprehensively
capture synaptic waves.”
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After collecting data from consumers who wore the Mynd while watching
TV ads or shopping for products, the company analyzed the subconscious
responses to see which products were the most appealing, which movie
characters fostered the strongest emotional attachments, and exactly
when someone switched away from an advertisement.
Unfortunately, while it can be useful, neuromarketing also has its

limitations in some instances. Because it focuses completely on
unconscious decision making, it can be difficult to verify exactly why
customers feel the way they do or what specific changes you could make
to influence those feelings. You’re going on customers' gut instincts, not
conscious decisions.
There are plenty of other research methods that offer more insight into
traditional decision making, including:
Social listening. This is where you see what people are saying about
your brand online (tools like Mention can help with this).
Conducting surveys. Create a survey with customized questions that

can be filled out in person, by phone, via email or online (tools like Qri‐
ously can help with this).
Market research. This could include in-depth case studies and

interviews with consumers and/or focus groups (tools like Questback
can help with this).
A/B testing. Also known as split testing, this is when you test two
versions of something, like product packaging or an ad campaign
(tools like Optimizely can help with this).
That being said, getting insight into unconscious decision making can be
extremely useful. It’s estimated that the human brain processes about 95%
of the information we take in unconsciously, particularly problem solving
and
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It's safe to say that neuromarketing is most effective

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when you’re using biological/neurological data with
at least one research method that looks into
traditional decision making. CLICK TO TWEET
Related Content:
SEO Keyword Research Made Easy in 2019
Make Your Product Sing: The Importance of UX Writing
7 Examples of Storytelling Content You Can Use in Your Marketing

Campaigns
5 Important Landing Page Elements You Should Be A/B Testing
Neuromarketing Examples
Let's take a look at a few examples of companies that are taking
advantage of neuromarketing and and neuroscience.
PayPal used neuromarketing company NeueroFocus to help refine their

forgettable brand message (essentially: “Safe, simple, wow!”). They
tested different key phrases to use in marketing for the different
features, and when they improved PayPal’s “visual and verbal identity”
based off of neuromarketing data, their click-through and response
rates increased 3-4X.
Hyundai hooked members of their target audience up to a UGC, asked

them to look at different parts of one of their cars and captured their
brain activity while they did so. The study focused on the “primal” parts
of the brain that triggered subconscious emotions and the results led to
the company improving the car's exterior.
IKEAcookies.
This site uses used neuroscience tobrowse
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l i ld h Th d hi h l i EEG h d
https://www.singlegrain.com/digital-marketing/neuromarketing-101-how-neuroscience-affects-customers-buying-behaviors/ d 10/24
plastics could they use. They used high-resolution EEG headsets and
eye trackers
Single Grain on IKEA customers in Poland and the Netherlands to gauge
“reactions to new business models.” Today, IKEA has a new business
model and undertakings such as a “home solar offering that enables
customers to generate their own renewable energy [and] a shift to
renewable plastics.”
Intel wanted to understand how consumers felt about their brand in a

more thorough way than conducting old-school market research. They
hired NeuroFocus to discover the specific words that people associated
with Intel and whether these associations were affected by a person's
culture. After analyzing the EEG results of their volunteers in both the
U.S. and China in which 64 sensors were attached to their heads to
measure their brain's electrical activity, they learned new information
that they “would have never learned through traditional market
research and focus groups, where cultural biases come into play.”
How to Use Neuromarketing in Your Campaigns
Ready for
Single some neuromarketing 101?
Grain
Whether you’re investing in biometric research with your consumers or

want to stick to tried-and-true neuromarketing strategies, these six
cognitive and emotional techniques can help you improve the
effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
Trigger Emotional Responses
Easier said than done, I know, but this is a solid strategy that’s really at the
base of neuromarketing.
Psychology has shown us that consumers unconsciously gravitate more

towards avoiding pain than we do towards gaining something positive.
This all comes down to the loss aversion phenomenon, where we fear
losing something more than we value getting something.
Therefore, appealing to pain points that can trigger an emotional

response tied to loss avoidance can be a strong marketing strategy. It’s
why SaaS campaigns that stress how much time you’re losing by not
using their tool can be so insanely effective: think about all that lost time,
lost productivity and lost revenue!
Dive Deeper:
5 Psychological Hacks to Improve Your Content Marketing Strategy
How to Write Hero Headlines to Skyrocket Click-Through Rates
Draw Attention Where You Want It
We are neurologically wired to respond to certain visual cues, and

knowing these tricks can help you direct the viewer’s gaze right where you
want it, putting a big emphasis on the product or service that you want to
sell.
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cookies. using contrasting
By continuing colors
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you the eye straight
are agreeing to our usetoofacookies.
CTA button is a common tactic.
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AnotherGrain
example goes right back to middle school, where one kid looks
up at the ceiling to see how many people around him he can get to look
up, too. An Australian usability specialist actually found that when
consumers are viewing an ad that features a person looking at
something, their eyes automatically go to what the subject in the ad is
looking at.
In this image, heatmaps show that viewers mostly look at the cute baby:
But in this example of the baby looking at the ad copy, viewers looked at
the ad copy, too:
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Dive Deeper: How to Create CTAs that Actually Cause Action
Leverage Information “Anchoring”
“Anchoring” is a neuromarketing technique in which “the brain often sees

the first number and uses it as a price anchor. When different prices
appear, the brain makes a rough comparison that is influenced by the
anchor.”
Let’s say you find a pair of sweatpants that you love, but cringe when you
see the price tag of $80. Even with great reviews, you can't help but
wonder how this simple item could be worth it. But then later you see that
the store has dropped the price to $60. Compared to the first (the
“anchor”) price, $60 seems reasonable.
Now let’s imagine that you see the same sweatpants for the first time at
$60. $60?! That’s so expensive for sweatpants! They only seemed cheaper
in the scenario above because you’ve already had a higher anchor,
making the new price seem like a deal.
Here's another great example in which people were asked to guess how
old Gandhi was when he died:
“Before asking that, though, they asked two groups different

questions. They asked one group if he died before age 9, and
another group if he died after the age of 140. The obvious answer to
both was no. Then, the groups estimated his actual age of death
(87). The first group’s average estimate was 50. The second group’s
guess averaged 67. An anchoring bias created by the numbers in the
first question influenced the estimates.”
Be intentional about suggesting price or quality anchors to clients or

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How Neuroscience Affects Customers’ Buying Behaviors
use remarketing to offer the lower deals.

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Related Content: How Remarketing Can Help Increase Conversions
Make Design Work for You
As crazy as it may sound, we read a lot (usually unconsciously) into the

visuals that we see in marketing campaigns.
Research found that people make judgments subconsciously within 90

seconds of of first seeing something or someone, and that 62-90% of that
assessment is based on color alone.
Similarly, people tend to judge fonts as having different meanings. In the

example below, would you hire a lawyer who used Comic Sans on her
business card or the more serious font, Garamond?
Compare the business-oriented font of LinkedIn versus the more playful

font of Twitter:
Single GrainHow to Create CTAs that Actually Cause Action

Learn More:
Conclusion
Neuromarketing can help brands better understand their target

audience’s buying behaviors on a neuroscientific – i.e. cognitive and
emotional – level, which allows you to tweak your current strategies and
campaigns to evoke stronger, more specific buying impulses.
Neuroscience is a powerful tool, but it is a tool and thus should be used to

tweak your brand's strategies. To get the best results, neuromarketing
should used along with careful split testing, detailed analytics, and
reaching out to customers directly.
Written By Ana Gotter
Ana Gotter is an expert business writer offering writing, ghostwriting,

content marketing, and editing services. She is a regular contributor at
sites like Social Media Examiner, AdEspresso, Agorapulse, Disruptive
Advertising, Shakr, Healthline, Everyday Health, and more. She has
multiple marketing certifications. Find her on Twitter @ana_gotter
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4/20/2021 How Neuroscience Affects Customers’ Buying Behaviors

Neuromarketing 101: How

Want to grow your organic traﬃc by 20-100%? We built ClickFlow, a

Marketing is all about understanding consumers' behaviors, needs and

This means that marketers who have a solid understanding of consumer

Book My Free Marketing Consultation

“Neuroscience, also known as Neural Science, is the study of how the

With this in mind, we can better comprehend the neuromarketing

“Neuromarketing is essentially designing marketing materials

The idea is to understand how your customers’ brains are actually

Although neuromarketing may sound incredibly advanced, it’s nothing

This site uses cookies.

technology when designing everything from their ad campaigns to the

How to Design the UX of a Website or App to Increase Conversions

7 Mistakes in UI and UX That Are Costing You Engagement

How Does Neuromarketing Work?

In an early study from Temple University, scientists used eight methods to

In addition to fMRIs and EEGs, businesses may use the following

Gaze mapping. With the use of glasses, screens, VR and even

Neuromarketing Research vs General Neuromarketing

Many businesses using neuromarketing won’t run tests themselves to see

There are small changes that we know can make an impact on

People tend to choose healthy food options when displayed on the left

Large, open spaces in luxury stores are associated with high social

Book My Free Marketing Consultation

How Is Neuromarketing Useful in Marketing

research. If it weren't, we wouldn’t have big brands like Google, HP,

The ability to measure physiological consumer responses to everything

Is Neuromarketing a More Accurate Way to Research?

Neuromarketing can clearly provide valuable insights into how the

One company, NeuroFocus (a neuromarketing company that was

Unfortunately, while it can be useful, neuromarketing also has its

Conducting surveys. Create a survey with customized questions that

Market research. This could include in-depth case studies and

It's safe to say that neuromarketing is most effective

SEO Keyword Research Made Easy in 2019

Make Your Product Sing: The Importance of UX Writing

7 Examples of Storytelling Content You Can Use in Your Marketing

5 Important Landing Page Elements You Should Be A/B Testing

PayPal used neuromarketing company NeueroFocus to help reﬁne their

Hyundai hooked members of their target audience up to a UGC, asked

Intel wanted to understand how consumers felt about their brand in a

Whether you’re investing in biometric research with your consumers or

Trigger Emotional Responses

Psychology has shown us that consumers unconsciously gravitate more

Therefore, appealing to pain points that can trigger an emotional

5 Psychological Hacks to Improve Your Content Marketing Strategy

How to Write Hero Headlines to Skyrocket Click-Through Rates

Draw Attention Where You Want It

We are neurologically wired to respond to certain visual cues, and

Leverage Information “Anchoring”

“Anchoring” is a neuromarketing technique in which “the brain often sees

“Before asking that, though, they asked two groups different

Be intentional about suggesting price or quality anchors to clients or

use remarketing to offer the lower deals.

Make Design Work for You

As crazy as it may sound, we read a lot (usually unconsciously) into the

Research found that people make judgments subconsciously within 90

Similarly, people tend to judge fonts as having different meanings. In the

Compare the business-oriented font of LinkedIn versus the more playful

Single GrainHow to Create CTAs that Actually Cause Action

Neuromarketing can help brands better understand their target

Neuroscience is a powerful tool, but it is a tool and thus should be used to