eye tracking studies marketing

2021/05/21

You probably wont read this article word for wordand youre not alone. With images it gets more subtle than that. Security Most marketers have seen those SERP (search engine results page) heat maps that show the top 3 rankings hogging all of the action But what role do visual elements play in holding visitor attention? Is it any wonder that some of the most tested websites in the world (like Amazon) have placed a clear priority on the left sides of their homepages? Too much whitespace can also give a sense of disconnect between your page elements. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

It provides an accurate history of the what, where, and how of viewing patterns (interpretation of the why is a different story). Basically, humans are pretty bad at evaluating price without contextual clues (as argued by Ariely in this TED talk). After consumers selected the smoothie of their choice, I asked them if their purchase was a good value for the money on a 7 point like scale (with 1 being very good value for the money and 7 being not very good value for the money). However, their CTR shot to 40%, when they replaced the laptop screen with an image of a conference as shown in their variation below confirming that relevant images play a crucial role in pushing visitors down the conversion funnel: Before-after examples allow easy comparison and force people to pay attention to everything you intend to bring to their notice. Its a human tendency to begin reading from the left side of the page and move towards the right. Take a 30-day free trial with VWO to try our insights and testing capabilities. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. About the Author: Gregory Ciotti is the marketing strategist for Help Scout, a Zendesk alternative made for small businesses that want help desk software with a personal touch. Aggregate data showing the distribution of users focus points to understand what consumers are most and least likely to notice. With the ability to take a lot of guesswork out of conversion rate optimization, eye-tracking software and heat maps can reveal some startling insights into increasing conversions (and avoiding sales killers) that can benefit every business. According to studies such as the aptly named Eye Gaze Cannot be Ignored, it is incredibly effective. Get in touch with us for a personalized tour of VWO, We understand you may not want to go through the entire site to get answers or to know if we offer a particular feature, hence we made it easy for you, All you Need to Know About Conversion Optimization Using eye-tracking in conjunction with other tools is the best way to ensure more accurate results. For instance, take the situation where a cellphone retailer wants to examine how a customer navigates the category in their store. Develop a hypothesis and run an A/B test. (For researchers with budget constraints, tools likeHotjars HeatmapsandMouseflowmay be an affordable alternative. Here are six insights that can be revealed with Eye Tracking. Eye tracking has been around in one form or another for some years but has come into its own with the recent surge in digital usage.

It could be that she has visited the store multiple times already so felt no need to look at shelves she had previously seen. Even the area of text that the babys chin was pointing to was read more!

It can provide accurate data about what, where, and for how long a person looks, but understanding motivation requires other market research methodologies, such as surveys and interviews. The average time allocated to a newsletter after opening it was only 51 seconds. When you use a larger-than-life image as the backdrop, it serves as a perfect whitespace to reel people in. Home Knowledge hub Eye-Tracking Technology Uses in Market Research. Trend watching experts from across our global boutique identify four key trends that we believe will define the next 12 months, inspiring innovation across Asia, the US and Europe. Fixation of eye movements is the typical metric of an eye-tracking system.When collated over a period of time, the data can provide you with crucial insights, such as where on a web page or other pieces of digital content a visitor has looked and paid most of their attention. Try it out for yourself. Are you struggling to meet the desired business goals and want to consider eye tracking to peep into your users mind to uncover why? Keep up to date with the latest insights from our research as well as all our company news in our free monthly newsletter. used the F-shape pattern to their advantage and increased their sales by 35.6%. Eye tracking through a series of iterated communication examples can be a highly effective way to improve ad effectiveness. 2) Head mounted eye trackers record eye activity at a close range and are mounted onto lightweight eyeglass frames or in virtual reality headsets.

How you style or present your text is what makes people decide whether or not theyd want to explore and engage with your site. Initial and follow-up retesting can determine what messages, fonts, colours, and placements best attract and retain leads, dramatically increasing marketing ROI. Royal Discounts, a leading eCommerce company, increased the font size of their sale price on their product page only to see their conversions improve by 36.54%. Privacy This advanced technology can measure almost anything about the eye, but what does the information tell us? In-Store:Head-mounted eye tracking is highly effective for evaluating store navigation, signage, and product displays. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Maybe its because they contain new words or ideas, or perhaps its merely their placement on the page. Take a 30-day, all-inclusive free trial with VWO. Several success stories prove otherwise. As you can see from the eye tracking heat map, users focused on the babys face again (from the side) and directly followed the babys line of sight to the headline and opening copy. Removing the badge fixed the flaw in the visual hierarchy of the page, allowing the call-to-action button to get the attention it deserved: Any space that is free from images or text is whitespace, no matter what color it might have. In such a situation, a respondent wearing a discreet eye tracking device they barely notice can go about their business the way they usually would and yield reams of hard data on what they are looking at every step of the way. Underwater Audio, one of the leading eCommerce companies, used the F-shape pattern to their advantage and increased their sales by 35.6%.

The eye-tracking market is exploding, expected to reach nearly$1.1 billion by 2025, up from $368 million in 2020. This means that you need to get to the point in your emails in under a minute. While applicable to many industries, the technology is commonly used for market research on various commercial sectors. There are many possible explanations and to search for one or even several on the basis of eye tracking alone would be pure speculation. It enables an understanding of which parts of a website are attracting more attention than others. And it didnt end there. No credit card required. Infrared light is invisible; it doesnt distract or harm the eyes. Gaze points are basic units of measure that are recorded by the eye tracker. See their original page below followed by its heatmap: The No-Fee badge is attracting maximum attention on the page. The following article introduces the fundamentals of eye tracking and why it might be helpful for your business. It isnt literally used by customers because they dont pay that price But is it still used to evaluate the new price? A great example here is TechWyses case study. It could be that she did not notice the other shelves. This is why when Trinity Insight displayed their product price closer to the Add to cart button, it increased their sales manifold. Call-to-action buttons, lead-generation forms, or even some important points listed in a box can all work really well for your conversions.

It can be combined with eye tracking to uncover more meaningful data.

VWO does A/B Testing so disruptively, embarrassingly better than Google does that it puts a smile on my face. This data humanizes technology, creating intuitive solutions that meet consumers actual needs and desires. Eye-tracking technology uses near-infrared light and high-resolution cameras to track how the eye moves in response to stimuli.

Clearly, the data this technology generates is valuable. | The movement of the human eye is an observable phenomenon. Analytical tools like heatmaps serve very handily when it comes to mapping eye movements. According to this study from the Nielsen Group, all across articles, e-commerce sites, and search engine results, people almost always browse in an F-shaped pattern that heavily favors the left side of the screen. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent.

For example, if respondents dwell longer on certain scenes in an advertisement it indicates higher interest but would require further questioning to understand if the reaction is positive or negative. Since eye tracking has been available for some time, one may expect that the proof of its utility would be its adoption by marketing research thought leaders. Heat maps are another output of eye tracking and show the most viewed areas whether on packaging, a website, at the point of sale or in other situations. If you want my team to just do your marketing for you, click here. This can reveal valuable insights into your respondents individual preferences by observing what they dwell on. All rights reserved Plus, each device can record only one person at a time, so it takes a great deal of time to get a meaningful sample size. Eye tracking glasses are ideal because they allow the respondent to walk around and exhibit natural behavior.

It can also help show the way consumers move through a page. However, by comparing visual patterns versus norms, it can help inform the viewing behavior. However, you must do your research and ensure that your business goals are well-aligned with your expectations from the eye tracking tool, before finalizing it as a potential website marketing strategy for your enterprise.

Likewise, there is always some bias in data interpretation or deciding the why behind the eye movements. Bank branches, car dealerships, groceries, malls, and other retail environments frequently employ the technology to better understand and improve the customer experience. Better yet, Stevens also tested perception of the sale price to see if viewing the pre-sale price played a role. The idea that it is the only place web users will browse is a complete myth. Headings and subheadings must stand out to adapt to online scan behavior. Eye Tracking UX Research for E-Commerce Optimization, How the Smart Watch Trend Observes Consumer Behaviour GSR.

In truth, eye tracking is best combined with other research methodologies, such as interviews and surveys. Eye-tracking technology only has to perform a simple task monitoring movement of the eye within its small field. 1) Remote eye trackers record eye movements at a distance (with no attachments to a respondent). Webcam options can be used in a participants home, but proper calibration isnt guaranteed and can negatively affect results. But if a less critical, non-clickable element carries the weight that diverts visitors from the call-to-action, you must take measures to fix the visual hierarchy. Furthermore, the placement of your visuals and the kind of visuals youre using matters. when Trinity Insight displayed their product price closer to the Add to cart button, it increased their sales manifold. Time spent often indexes motivation and conscious attention (long prevalence point to a high level of interest, while shorter prevalence indicate other areas on screen or in the environment that might be more notable). But only taking care of text spacing isnt enough either. We've mailed you the guide, please check your inbox. Also, it is right next to one of the most important CTAs on the page (the phone number) and it stands out so much that it actually is drawing people away from other more important elements.

It is undoubtedly a critical tool for assessing advertising communication. For instance, many marketers argue that placing your call-to-action(s) above the fold is always a better option as the chances of your visitors easily identifying and clicking on them are comparatively high. How do consumers navigate media such as web pages and social media? It is important to note all of these studies were conducted with English speaking (and reading) participants.

Thanks! Sometimes knowing what to emphasize can make a big difference.

Recommended for controlled environments. It is also easy to compare different sets of results, whether they are from different groups of consumers or before and after comparison using the same consumer. F-shaped pattern also suggests that a websites header gets a lot of attention. Eye-Tracking Technology Uses in Market Research. Whatever the reason, this is how humans interact with most visual stimulus: they pay more attention to some parts than others. 3) Webcam based eye trackers are less expensive but there is a trade-off in quality. Appropriate use of whitespace increases legibility and allows natural eye flow on the page. As one of the primary senses, sight gives all sorts of clues as to what is happening in the mind. Without that contextual clue, the sale price is hard to evaluate because they dont know what the product usually sells for.

My only question is, will it be yours? Ideal for performing tasks in a real-life or virtual environment (shopping, usability studies, product testing). They were more satisfied with getting a good value for money rather than their counterpart, which was shown promotional items only.

We find it much easier to make decisions when we have something to base them on. They shifted important testimonials from the right side of the page to the left side so that theyre prominently visible before the call-to-action.

Near-infrared light is directed toward the center of the eyes (pupils) causing visible reflections in the cornea which are tracked by a camera. Opt-out. They skim over some words, re-read others, and skip entire sections. According toresearchfrom Harvard Business School, 95 per cent of purchase decision-making occurs in the subconscious mind. Those insights can be used to optimize brand performance and improve marketing ROI. Surprisingly, they will browse even further down if the length of the page is longer. There is no ambiguity about this. Whether it is the area of communication which attracts the eye, or the part of an in-store fixture which captures the shoppers gaze, understanding where consumers eyes go can be the key to improving the return on marketing investment.

Conversely, understanding why certain things do not capture visual interest can also provide meaningful insights. While seemingly complicated at first glance, one of the fundamental lessons Fittss law communicates is that object weight (in the visual hierarchy) is a big determinant in what attracts eyes and mouse clicks.

Despite the many benefits, there remain a few challenges with using eye-tracking technology in marketing research. They created variations of a lead gen page featuring different visual cues. The use of white space comes with a disclaimer, though.

This metric can help show what stands out and drives attention. Join our community of 10,000+ Marketing, Product & UX Folks today & never miss the latest from the world of experience optimization. But the problem is that it is a non-clickable element and hence, stealing away the thunder of the main call-to-action button. In fact, that is precisely what has happened. For English speaking people (and languages with similar reading patterns), the left side of the screen is heavily favored, and all sites tend to be browsed in an F-pattern. It shows what a useractuallylooks at and ignores and how they scan an object or a space. The eye-tracking study showed that these believed-to-be useless pre-sale prices were not that useless after all. Theyve concluded that it typically depends upon your visitors motivation. Copyright This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Whether for print or video, it can help you understand what draws the respondents attention and just as crucially what does not. This means that eye tracking can provide a detailed, accurate history of where the eyes have moved and for how long during the period in question. Eye-tracking technology is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

The Call Now button clearly is getting a lot of attention over every other section on the page, which is great because it is how customers get started contacting the business! Lesson learned: If you want to stand out at the top of some competitive search results, you may want to test an embedded video rather than authorship for product pages. Get the Guide. Samsung also included eye tracking in some of its smartphones. But if the pre-sale price was included, would people look at it?

ConversionXL conducted a research on which visual cues drive the most attention. 2022 The leads from the long-form version of the page were higher in quality than the leads from the variation. However, traditional consumer goods companies, who more or less invented eye tracking in the first place, are also heavy users of eye tracking. | Reliable:Very little market research is 100% accurate, but eye-tracking precisely captures eye movements down to milliseconds. Overall scan patterns help to optimize layouts and positioning of different elements. The human eye is small and generally behaves consistently from one person to the next. Eye tracking is widely used by a vast number and variety of successful business. Limitations:Eye-tracking technology can be less effective for participants who wear contacts or glasses or squint. One common pricing element that fits the bill here is the pre-sale price. Upon closer inspection, however, eye tracking could be relevant in more research scenarios than you may imagine. Indeed, Google was so excited by the prospect that its prototype Google Glass product line incorporated the technology. You should put information, such as free shipping, contact number, search bar, money-back guarantee, et al. Easy Testing:You can immediately test a hypothesis about what might improve the visual performance of a website, package, or display. Heat maps are the aggregation of gaze points and fixations revealing the distribution of visual attention. Eye tracking is not limited to situations where consumers evaluate two-dimensional objects like advertisements. Your call-to-action should ideally have the highest weight on the page. their sale price on their product page only to see their conversions improve by 36.54%. However, data only tells you so much as a researcher. Eye-tracking is also vital in technology, becoming a more frequent interface method for computers, phones, video games, and televisions. However, instead of assuming, test to see if it impacts your search traffic for top keywords. A fixation is a period of time in which our eyes are locked toward a specific object. Consumers from the second group took note of the full-price of items during the purchase. To summarize, eye tracking is an objective measure that reveals: which elements attract immediate attention which elements attract above-average attention If some elements are being ignored or overlooked in which order the elements are noticed directly compare one stimuli to another. By clicking the button below, you consent for NP Digital and partners to use automated technology, including pre-recorded messages, cell phones and texts, and email to contact you at the number and email address provided. In the initial test, results werent too surprising. If yes, please read on. A camera records the reflections (called pupil center corneal reflection or PCCR), tracking the persons exact point of focus. Usually navigation menus are common across all pages of a website. Market researchers can propose changes that improve usability, effectiveness, and overall customer experience with this data. You dont have to be an expert in UX (user experience) to understand the importance of Fittss law. Users are extremely fast at both processing their inboxes and reading newsletters. Movement is limited within the static area. So far it is clear that eye tracking can generate a wealth of detailed, highly accurate data about what respondents are viewing. Most of the major tech companies spend considerable time doing marketing research which utilizes eye tracking. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Bullet points in the text also come in handy when it comes to giving a quick overview to readers about the important points.

You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Terms For marketing professionals, this can have significant consequences. Consumers who saw only the promotional item gave a mean score of 2.4. Lesson learned: Although its dependent on the page you are testing, you shouldnt be afraid of placing important elements below the fold (and testing them there), because it gives people time to read your copy before they take action. Bias:The Hawthorne Effect, or a person changing their behaviour when they know theyre being observed, may create some degree of error with results. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Thats why people often view a sale price as a better value when they can see what they really are saving. Thats why many market researchers rely on eye-tracking.

Here are 7 important eye-tracking studies that give a sneak peek into common browsing patterns and elements of human behavior that all marketers need to know. Measure specific areas of a video, website, package, or display to determine how long it takes a user to notice something, how many people notice an AOI, how long they view the area, and how often they return to an AOI. At first glance, it may seem obvious what sort of activities would benefit from the use of eye tracking to measure consumer behavior. Your prospects tend to look first at the image and then read on the text if the visuals are captivating enough. Human beings have a natural tendency to follow the gaze of others, and we have been coached since birth to follow arrows directing us to where we should be looking and going. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. By reversing a heat map an opacity map can be generated that shows what is viewed and more importantly what isnt seen at all. Whod have thought that eye tracking and email marketing could be best of friends? Another advantage of eye tracking is its reliability. The exact data a researcher collects depends on the hardware and software they select from the many companies that offer the technology. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Monthly Marketing BudgetUnder $750$750 to $1,500$1,500 to $5,000$5,000 to $10,000$10,000 to $25,000$25,000 to $50,000$50,000 to $100,000Above $100,000, Revenue$0 to $500 thousand$500 thousand to $1 million$1 to $3 million$3 to $10 million$10 million to $50 million$50 million to $100 millionAbove $100 million. Subconsciously, people tend to follow the gaze of subjects and look in the same direction. They show where a mouse hovers. Its important to note that eye-tracking falls short in determining the psychology behind a users actions.

This coincides with a study from MarketingSherpa that shows people prefer short, clear, and un-creative headlines for their emails. Cost:Eye-tracking studies require money, time, and labour. It can be used to test a few solutions to perceived problems. So, this makes one thing clear try and keep all your important content on the left side of the page. Hey, I'm Neil Patel. While not perfect, theres some correlation between where a person points the mouse and where their eyes move.).

VWO offers an all-inclusive and guided 30-day trial that you can use to make the most of your website optimization efforts. With this human behavior, the ball lies in your court as it can facilitate the rise in conversion rates by fast-tracking the decision-making process of your prospects. KISSmetrics conducted an interesting A/B test on his homepage and found that a page with 1,292 words beat a page with 488 words by 7.6%. Eye-tracking is a powerful tool for gathering, analyzing, and utilizing data about what goes on in consumers minds.

The variations had one of the cues each from the following: The Fitts law states that an elements weight in the visual hierarchy determines the attention it gets. As digital usage and media have grown, there has been increasing demand for research methodologies which help companies understand how consumers are interacting with digital media. Lesson learned: When you are assembling a persuasive landing page, be sure the elements that pop are the ones that matter, and that you arent giving too much weight to visuals that dont encourage customers to take action. The larger your sample pool, the more you can determine differences in how various populations view the same object or space. Many researchers prefer to use eye tracking in the latter stages of market research as a diagnostic tool.

This consent is not required to make a purchase. As you can see below, both direct video results (such as a hosted YouTube video) and embedded video results (videos embedded on a webpage) commanded more attention than a regular search listing, especially if they were near the top of the results. How a persons eye moves around a page, design, or space reveals a lot about what doesand doesntcapture their attention. Read on to learn more about the fundamentals of eye-tracking technology and its uses in market research. When a respondent spends more time looking at something, there is typically a reason. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. At the same time, the technology captures the path they take, what draws their attention, and what they ignore. Human eyes tend to follow the direction theyre pointed in. Those insights can be valuable in optimizing websites, product packaging, store displays, and most importantly, improving marketing ROI. The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies. The respondent is simply seated in front of an eye tracker. Neil is a New York Times bestselling author and was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and atop 100 entrepreneur under the age of 35 bythe United Nations. This type of testing is particularly well-suited to A/B testing that compares two or several options to see which generates the most fixations on key AOIs. Now look at the browsing patterns when an image of the baby facing the text was used. As a result, essential page elements get the necessary traction and improve the chances of more conversions. Consumers who saw the promotional item next to a full-price premium offer gave it 1.7, even though they purchased the same item! A/B testing case study: removing navigation menu increased conversions by 100%, 7 Thank You Page Examples That Can Boost Visitor Experience, Website Copywriting: The Ka-Ching in your Conversion Rates, Where your site visitors are looking and for how long they are looking, How their focus moved from one item to another on your web page, What parts of the user interface do they miss, How they are navigating through a particular page, How the size and placement of various page items is affecting their attention.