The Buying Brain: Secrets for Selling to the Subconscious Mind (24 page)

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Neuromarketing Measures and Metrics

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As with our other techniques, a major strength of this methodology is that it is completely nonverbal and references true subconscious processes, not verbal reenactments or rationalizations. We have found this tool to be quite robust and able to tease out significant differences among concepts that on the surface might appear indistinguishable. Furthermore, we have found that applying the results of the
Deep Subconscious Response
methodology to new message copy can lead to large and surprising behavioral results. You will see some examples of this in the coming chapters.

Putting It All Together

In the following chapters, I take you on a guided tour of the five major categories of NeuroFocus research.

We start out with Brands. Here you will meet the Brand Essence Framework. You will see how our suite of NeuroMetrics can be used to identify and classify the seven key dimensions of a brand: Form, Function, Feelings, Values, Benefits, Metaphors, and Extensions.

Then we will visit Products and see how our methodology can be used to highlight the
Neurological Iconic Signature
of a product consumption experience. Here we use both moment-to-moment and before-and-after metrics to chart out the implicit, subconscious meaning of a product, to determine how the product can best be expressed and marketed.

The next stop is Packaging, where we will see how eye-tracking and Deep Subconscious Response metrics can be combined to
understand where and
how a package design
is working, and not working for communicating the essential features of the product within. We will also see how well a package attracts attention in the critical task of achieving shelf “pop out” and noticeability.

In the next chapter, we visit the In-Store experience to see how our metrics and measures illuminate the world of shopping and point-of-sale merchandising. Here we will see some new measures in action, including “walk around”

in-store research methods and a unique alternative to Virtual Reality testing we call Video RealisticTM analysis.

Next, we take a detailed tour of Advertising. Here all the NeuroMetrics—primary, derived, and Deep Subconscious Response—are brought to bear to identify the strengths and weaknesses of various advertising concepts, strategies, executions, and mediums.

Finally, we take you into some related territory to share some path-breaking research we have done on how the whole marketing/messaging experience is subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, impacted by exposure on different P1: OTA/XYZ

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sized screens—from large flat-screen high definition TVs to desktop/laptop computer monitors to the miniscule real estate of your cell phone or other mobile device’s screen. Here we will see how our NeuroMetrics and related measures can be used to reveal surprising ways in which size really does matter. We will also see how neuromarketing can illuminate what happens to the brain as we engage with social media. Like our brains, social media is an entire world of communications and responses, all interconnected by a pulsating web of electrical signals.

With the great neuroscience and marketing teams I have been fortunate to surround myself with at NeuroFocus, and the world-class clients we partner with, our development of new metrics and measurement techniques is a never-ending process. It seems that every metric spawns an idea for two more, and every combination of metrics opens up an opportunity for delving deeper into the intricacies of how the human brain interacts with the flood of commercial stimuli it finds itself swimming in every day.

It is a “deep dive into the subconscious” that we enjoy taking each and every time we are privileged to do so.

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At the end of this chapter, you’ll know and be able to use the
following:

r The seven steps that comprise the Consumer Journey Framework r How it can be used to help marketing campaigns migrate consumers along a path

r How creative teams can use it to understand which components of the Brand Essence Framework to utilize for maximum effectiveness A Framework of Frameworks

Throughout this part of the book I introduce a number of frameworks—nine to be precise—that we have developed at NeuroFocus to make sure that we are considering all relevant aspects of the various consumer “experiences” we study with our NeuroMetric measures. You can think of these frameworks as checklists of attributes or features that need to be considered to understand the full array of ways in which consumers can interact everyday with brands, products, packages, ads, and shopping.

To provide a bit of a preview, here are all nine frameworks we will be introducing in this and later chapters, what they refer to, and where to find them.

1. Consumer Journey Framework:
how consumers relate to brands and products through usage and experience . . .
p. 114

2. Brand Essence Framework (BEF):
the key attributes and features of a brand that makes it neurologically successful or not . . .
p. 121

3. Total Consumer Experience (TCE) Framework
: how people interact with products as an embodied multisensory experience . . .
p. 137

4. New Product Effectiveness Framework
: the key attributes of a new product that will determine its likely success or failure in the marketplace

. . .
p. 143

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5. Pricing Framework:
the two dimensions used to determine optimal pricing . . .
p. 151

6. Bundling Framework:
useful for analyzing the neurological effects of bundling options . . .
p. 153

7. Packaging Effectiveness Framework:
the key attributes of a package

. . .
p. 157

8. Shopper Experience Framework
: the key attributes of an in-store shopping experience . . .
p. 173

9. Advertising Effectiveness Framework
: the key elements of advertising that can be measured only by NeuroMetric techniques, not by people’s self-reports or articulated responses . . .
p. 193

The Consumer Journey Framework

The first framework I’d like to introduce you to is called the Consumer Journey. This framework helps us understand the phases of product or brand affinity in the consumer’s mind. We have used it to measure and evaluate the impact of several types of marketing and advertising. Simply put, any consumer marketing effort has the purpose of migrating the consumer along a path or journey, and, therefore, should be measured using the appropriate NeuroMetrics for that step in the process. The framework can also be used to guide creative teams on what elements of the Brand Essence Framework to utilize to develop the most effective creative to accomplish this migration.

We developed the Consumer Journey Framework based on our studies of advertising and interactive experiences among a variety of categories that successfully accomplished this migration.

The Consumer Journey Framework comprises seven steps:
1.
Awareness

2.
Information

3.
Inquiry

4.
Consideration

5.
Purchase

6.
Enjoyment

7.
Advocacy

Awareness:
Awareness is the first prerequisite for the Consumer Journey.

This stage is where the consumer becomes aware of a product, its brand, and P1: OTA/XYZ

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its category. Such awareness can be created either in the deep subconscious mind, or in the conscious, accessible, rational state of mind of the consumer.

Creating Awareness in the subconscious mind of the consumer can be achieved in many ways. Advertising, incidental exposure in articles and entertainment programs, and interactive marketing experiences are just some of the obvious ways to create Awareness.

Information:
This is the point in the Consumer Journey where information about the brand, product, or service is
“pushed” to the consumer.

This information is not being requested by the consumer, but is being made available and accessible by the product or brand provider. Effective presentation of information is not about overloading the consumer with facts and figures, but basically providing the context and the associations inherent in the product landscape that makes them want to know more. The purpose of providing this level and type of information is to create in the consumer’s mind a desire or need to know more. The purpose of Information is not so much to create purchase intent but basically to amplify on the Awareness already gained and nudge the consumer gently into wanting to know more.

Inquiry:
Inquiry is a two-way process, primarily initiated by the consumer.

This is the natural next stage after Information, in which the consumer begins instigating a discovery process to know more. This is the phase of the journey where the motivational need-to-know is transformed into a quest for facts and reason. It is very possible that the consumer has already made up his or her mind to acquire the product or service, and is engaged in a rational process of marshaling facts and figures to justify a decision that has already been made.

Inquiry is a consumer-initiated process, but it also provides an opportunity for the marketer to present facts and rationale that slake this thirst for information that is initiated by the consumer.

Consideration:
This is the step in the Consumer Journey just prior to purchasing. This is where the consumer, after having Inquired, is now actively
considering
purchasing
the product,
and in doing so actively compares and considers the product or service to its possible alternatives.

To the extent you can facilitate and make the process of consideration easy and “tilted” toward your product, you are able to create a sense of goodwill and a sense of obligation deep in the subconscious mind of the consumer. When an insurance company, for example, helps consumers compare prices and other features readily, they are not only making an otherwise complicated process easy for the consumer, they are also displaying a core value that reinforces their brand image. Implicitly, they are communicating not only how they can ease the purchase process, but also how the consumer can expect the rest of the insurance coverage process to transpire as well.

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In addition, they are creating a sense of goodwill and an implicit obligation in the mind of the consumer.
It is hard to say no
to somebody who took the effort to make it easier for you to compare and contrast products. This sense of obligation and goodwill in the deep subconscious mind of the consumer translates into loyalty and a willingness to be flexible with price.

Purchase:
This is the most important and vital part of the Consumer Journey because this is where
the first interaction
with the brand or product/

service offering actually happens. It is important to note that however wonderful the product or service is, the act of parting with money during a purchase is an implicitly painful process within the consumer’s mind. In fact, brain-imaging studies have shown that brain activity during physical pain is similar to brain activity while spending money. To the extent that that pain can be minimized, it makes it easier for the consumer to appreciate the value of the product, and thereby justify the purchase.

As an example, stating that some percent of the proceeds will go to charity or another worthwhile cause enables the consumer to rationalize the act of purchasing in terms of providing pleasure and benefit to other people, thereby minimizing the pain in his or her own mind of parting with money. We have also found that at this stage of the Consumer Journey the pleasure of enjoying the product is “calculated” implicitly by the consumer, and must achieve a value that overcomes the implicit pain of the transaction if the purchase is to occur. Accordingly, an effective purchasing experience must overcome the transaction pain, for example, by communicating how close the consumer is to enjoying the product and deriving value from it.

When consumers bring a product up to the cash register and get ready to part with their cash, a neurologically-savvy management of this step in their journey will
remind them
once again of the enjoyment and the pleasure they are about to derive from this purchase. Doing this successfully not only facilitates the sale, but also provides another sense of emotional attachment in the mind of the consumer, who now feels more loyal and even thankful to the brand.

Enjoyment:
This is where the consumer actively “consumes” and—you hope—enjoys your product. The consumer transports the package home, opens it, extracts the product, and begins the initial consumption experience.

At this point, the consumer comes face-to-face for the first time with many aspects of the product and its package design that may not have been apparent before. Sometimes the product can be enjoyed straight out of the box, sometimes the product must be combined with other products to be enjoyed, and sometimes the product must be assembled to be enjoyed. In some occasions, P1: OTA/XYZ