Today, many companies use neuromarketing to implement marketing campaigns, set up discussion groups or even to conduct market research. Although many of them use tracking and webanalytics tools, they must be complemented by the analysis of human emotions and behaviors. But various studies show that, contrary to what we believe, our decision-making is not influenced by our conscience…
Neuromarketing: definition and particularities
By definition, neuromarketing consists in applying cognitive neuroscience to communication and marketing in order to know the reasons for the consumer’s act of purchase. Also called neuromarketing, it studies their emotions and observes their brain activity based on affective, emotional and sensory factors.
Thanks to new technologies and by showing consumers stimuli such as photos or a product, it is now possible to detect which ones caused a high level of brain activity and which part of the brain was stimulated the most. This way, you can more easily understand their decision-making, memorization and attention processes.
But before going any further, you must learn to distinguish the three types of brain:
- The reflective brain : it is intended to understand verbal language. Also called neocortex, it commands our rational thoughts through high analytical skills. It is the most evolved and the most recent of the 3 brains;
- The limbic or emotional brain : it is responsible for emotions and memory. This intermediate brain, based on affective memory, is endowed with about sixty million years in order to moderate the affective part of our decision-making;
- The primitive brain : it controls swallowing, heartbeat, digestion and breathing. With 500 million years, it represents the oldest brain in the cerebral system. It is from him that come certain reflexes and behaviors intended to guarantee survival or the primordial needs of life. It reacts the most to stimuli and plays a decisive role in decision-making.
6 stimuli to use to encourage decision-making
The emotions
Play the emotion card to divert the consumer from a possible logical reflection. In this case, you appeal to the limbic brain and the primitive brain. Strongly influenced by emotion, the limbic brain will have guided the consumer’s decision without having given the logical brain time to analyze the information. Under the impetus, he immediately buys the product that interests him.
Currently, many companies are working to make consumers experience different emotions in order to encourage them to buy unconsciously, hence the success of sensory, experiential and emotional marketing with brands.
Navelism
In general, Man likes to be complimented and to be the center of attention. By playing on this attitude, strongly influenced by the primitive brain, you will manage to push the consumer to carry out the actions requested through your marketing campaigns.
Find out about the needs, problems and expectations of your target in order to focus your communication on them. The message you convey must be personalized by addressing each recipient in particular.
By feeling important to the company, the consumer unconsciously activates the reptilian brain. He is thus convinced that the services or products offered represent a solution to his problem.
For a more effective marketing campaign, “You” and “your” should be featured prominently in your message to capture the recipient’s attention. Show him that he’s the center of attention by avoiding using “we” or “I” and by not talking about your expertise or the qualities of your brand.
imagination
The reptilian brain is systematically mobilized through images and other visuals. Compared to words, it assimilates the information conveyed more quickly. Since the optic nerve is directly linked to the reptilian brain, it is able to communicate about 20 times more data to it than the auditory nerve. To easily convey your message, bet not only on images, but also on videos.
Colors
Attract the primitive brain by playing with colors and their meanings. For this, offer him a different environment from the one in which he is used to living, because the reptilian brain decides more quickly in the face of different oppositions, such as difficult/easy, fast/slow, after/before, etc. By doing so, you increase your chances of quickly attracting his attention and taking advantage of the few seconds he has to help him make a decision.
Put your message forward thanks to the combination of harmonious colors, contrasts and original typography. On your logo, for example, you can use custom icons and shapes to quickly engage the reptilian brain.
Focus on first and last impression
While the brain represents 2% of body mass, it consumes about 25% of human energy. The latter indeed consumes more energy than the stomach and tends to save its reserves by processing the minimum amount of information possible.
When you transmit a message to it, it performs a diagonal reading by memorizing especially the beginning and the end of this one. In your advertising campaigns, focus the most essential information at the beginning and end of your messages. This will leave a memorable first and last impression.
Tangibility
The primitive brain is not able to understand expressions: it cannot carry out logical thinking or analysis. If you use complex words that involve the intellectual properties of your products, you will not mobilize it. So favor common, easy-to-understand words and use short, precise sentences so that the primitive brain quickly understands the message transmitted.
To conclude
Over time, sales prospecting techniques have changed, traditional marketing is no longer the only approach used. Digital marketing is certainly developing, but neuromarketing is also attracting more and more brands faced with the complexity and difficulty of standing out in a saturated market. By combining neuroscience, social psychology and market research to better create your advertising campaign, neuromarketing makes it possible to design products, define prices, and more easily push decision-making to gradually change the future of marketing. . By taking these stimuli into account, you will be able to improve your marketing strategies and develop your activities.