{"id":126090,"date":"2021-08-24T15:00:44","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T14:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/?p=126090"},"modified":"2021-08-20T15:01:14","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T14:01:14","slug":"an-introduction-to-neuromarketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/digital-marketing-strategy\/an-introduction-to-neuromarketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Neuromarketing explained [key concepts and recommendations]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neuromarketing explained: By applying neuroscience-based principles, you\u2019ll be able to create marketing messaging and visuals that better connect with your target audience<\/h2>\n

As the name suggests, neuromarketing means the application of brain-based research to the discipline of marketing in general and digital marketing in particular. It involves the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), the measurement of brain electrical activity, or other technologies used to measure people\u2019s responses to marketing creative, such as copywriting, product descriptions, pricing, packaging, and advertising.<\/p>\n

For example, researchers may find that a particular stimulus causes a response in the brains of test subjects that\u2019s correlated with a desired behavior (e.g. the release of a \u2018feel good\u2019 hormone). Obviously, as a marketer, you\u2019d want to know these cause-effect relationships so that you can apply the principles to your creative, and thereby drive improvements to your key conversion metrics.<\/p>\n

While neuroscience<\/a> has been around for decades, it has only been applied to marketing since the mid-2000s. Here\u2019s how we transitioned from \u2018user-centered\u2019 to \u2018brain-centered\u2019 design.<\/p>\n

From emotional design to neuromarketing explained<\/h3>\n

Donald Norman, director of the Design Lab at the University of California, San Diego, in his 2003 book Emotional Design, <\/em>triggered the digital design community to move beyond traditional usability and towards persuasive, motivational design. He described how humans interact with interfaces on three levels: behavioral (interactions), visceral (\u2018gut\u2019 reaction), and reflective (\u2018looking back\u2019 reaction), and how these impressions affect our motivation to interact with brands in a shopping context.<\/p>\n

Next, Robert Cialdini shared, in his great book Influence<\/em>, the several psychology-based principles of persuasion, which include things like reciprocation, social proof, liking, and scarcity. Lieberman\u2019s book Social<\/em> took this discussion to the next level by demonstrating how deeply social interactions drive our behavior. Then came writings from neuro-based thought leaders including Jonah Lehrer (How We Decide<\/em>), Dan Ariely (Predictably Irrational<\/em>), Renvoise (Neuromarketing<\/em>) and Martin Lindstrom (Buyology<\/em>). They shared many studies that proved how we humans make most of our decisions based on instinct rather than rationality.<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s the work of Nobel Prize-winning Princeton economist Daniel Kahneman, as documented in his book Thinking Fast and Slow<\/em>, that\u2019s most interesting and actionable to marketers. By bridging psychology and economics, Kahneman\u2019s work systematically integrates these two worlds, and thereby unlocks the secrets to human decision making. Since this framework is \u2018core knowledge\u2019 for a discussion of neuromarketing, allow me to take a brief aside into brain science.<\/p>\n

Our three brain parts<\/h3>\n

\"Neuromarketing

[Image source: 'Decoded. The Science Behind Why We Buy' by Phil Barden (2013. London. Wiley)]<\/p><\/div>As shown above, our brains have three main parts, which are:<\/p>\n