Neuromarketing with Portable EEG Technology

Thanks to advances in neurotechnology, portable EEG headsets make research far less expensive and easier to use than traditional brain imaging devices. This makes them widely accessible to marketing teams who want to understand consumer interactions in real time.

What is Neuromarketing?

#Neuromarketing (also known as consumer neuroscience) is the application of neuroscience and cognitive science to marketing. It involves presenting focus groups or members of your target market with stimuli (often relating to purchasing decisions, pricing, or product development) while they wear an EEG headset. Sensors on the EEG headset detect electrical activity from the brain.

These responses offer insights into whether a consumer likes or dislikes some aspect of your product, helping marketers determine which marketing approaches are more likely to solicit the desired response.

While EEG is historically associated with helping to diagnose brain illnesses, like seizures or traumatic brain injuries, EEG is becoming recognized as an invaluable tool for consumer research.

One of the ways neuromarketing is being used is in video advertising research. In their review, Technological advancements and opportunities in Neuromarketing: a systematic review, Ferdousi Sabera Rawnaque et al. found that for video advertisement-based neuromarketing research, EEG devices are some of the most favored by researchers. According to the authors, this is mainly due to the low cost and high time resolution of portable EEG headsets—with EEG indexing cognitive processes on the order of milliseconds. This precision allows marketers to understand how consumers are responding to specific aspects of an advertising campaign.

What Evidence Do We Have that Neuromarketing Works?

Interest in neuromarketing took off nearly two decades ago when business school researchers began measuring brain data as a dependent variable in the context of advertising and realized that marketing tactics have measurable impacts on the brain.

Today, companies routinely leverage hardware and software developments in brain imaging technology. For example, 宜家 used EEG headsets to better understand how customers reacted to new business models. Similarly, PepsiCo used neuromarketing to determine that Lays potato chips would sell better with females if they were marketed as “guilt-free.”

One advantage of neuromarketing is that researchers can decipher and categorize more complex emotional responses. Meaning they can properly distinguish dynamic mixes of cognitive neurophysiological indices (happiness, surprise, attention, etc.) and behavioral indices (memory rate, preference, etc.), thanks to advancements in the AI algorithms used to process brain data.

Why use EMOTIV to Process and Understand Consumer EEG Data?

EMOTIV has proven itself incredibly transformative by making it possible to collect remote, scalable EEG data by offering portable, effective, and low-cost EEG technology. Additionally, we’ve created an ecosystem of analysis platforms that enable the cloud-based computing of brain data in real time.

Here at EMOTIV, we partnered with marketing firm Inmar Media to remotely collect brain data from volunteers while they watched the Super Bowl to identify whether impactful plays led to increased consumer receptivity. Similarly, we developed a custom algorithm in partnership with 欧莱雅 that uses brain responses to scents to predict which YSL fragrances a customer is likely to want to purchase.

EMOTIV’s advanced suite of neuroscience applications allows users to make sense of EEG data through integrated, highly advanced machine learning and deep learning algorithms. Our most popular applications for research are EmotivPRO and EMOTIV LABS.

To learn more about how EMOTIV’s EEG technology can help you better understand your consumer’s preferences visit our website or book a demonstration with us today.