Eye-tracking in Marketing Research

Abstract

Understanding the cognitive processes of consumers, such as attention or perception, can help orient marketing activities in such a way that the information provided to recipients is delivered in the most effective way possible. Neuromarketing methods-in contrast to conventional methods-enable scientists to measure the subconscious reactions in response to stimuli, thereby giving insight into decision-making processes, consumer preferences or motivations. One of the most commonly used methods of this type is eye-tracking. In recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in the popularity of using this technique as it provides valuable information regarding the visual processing of stimuli. The purpose of this publication is to present the possibilities of using eye-tracking in marketing research, including identifying the main research areas and insights from previous research. In the beginning, necessary information about the method will be presented, providing context for further considerations, such as eye movement characteristics and fundamental measurement indicators. Then a review of the studies conducted using eye-tracking will be carried out. A broad spectrum of the use of eye-tracking provides the opportunity for future studies to combine this method with other neuromarketing techniques (including the electroencephalography or magnetic resonance imaging).

Eye-tracking research

“…In recent years, there has been a notable rise in the popularity of using this technique because it offers useful knowledge on how stimuli are processed visually. The need to learn more about the relationship between the brain and the visual system prompted the need to monitor eye movements (Białowąs & Szyszka, 2019;Schall & Bergstrom, 2014).…”

“…As a result, it is possible to isolate the focus areas of the participant's vision, providing an overview of what the subject finds interesting or what has drawn attention. Thanks to this type of information, the researcher may examine how an individual perceives the viewed content (Białowąs & Szyszka, 2019;Duchowski, 2007).…”

“…Louis E. Javal recorded eye movements using an apparatus mounted on the patient's eye surface in one of the first experiments regarding this field of the 19 th century (Wawer & Pakuła, 2012). Eye-tracking has been used in a variety of areas of research, including psychology, medicine, ergonomics and marketing research as well (Białowąs & Szyszka, 2019;Wąsikowska, 2016).…”

Challenge of 2D representation of 3D objects in architectural and heritage studies. In search of gaze patterns similarities

“…The author feels that it is important since eye trackers are quickly gaining popularity as research tools for studying people's perception. The rapid growth of interest in this eld is testi ed to by the EBSCO database data that Sylwester Białowąs and Adrianna Szyszka wrote about 42 . Pioneering implementations of new technologies is often characterized by a lack of critical methodological approach 43 .…”

How Neuroscience-Based Research Methodologies Can Deliver New Insights to Marketers

“…Professional marketers have been aware of these limitations, but until recently there was no viable alternative for exploring the consumer's mind due to a lack of equipment that could tell us what is going on the consumer's mind and a lack of software that could translate physiological measures such as eye movements, brain waves and response times into meaningful marketing metrics. In recent years, a noticeable increase was observed in the popularity of using eye-tracking technique to measure cognitive processes of consumers among which are attention and perception to gain insights into their decision-making processes, consumer preferences and/or motivations [6]. Eye-tracking systems (i.e., systems that constantly detect the place of a person's gaze while seeing or interacting with a visual picture) have recently been common in research.…”