The Consumer’s Brain And Neuromarketing

In the capitalist system we live in, being able to sell more and better is one of the basic principles of the economy. For this reason, companies are deeply committed to making us buy their products. Advertising, promotional campaigns, persuasion techniques… “doing everything” is still not enough to improve sales. And as if that weren’t enough, a discipline that studies the consumer’s brain has recently been born.

We are talking about neuromarketing, a combination of consumer habits studies based on modern neuroscience. Thanks to this discipline, nowadays we know a lot about what happens in our mind when we buy. In this article, you will learn about some of his most important discoveries.

What does neuromarketing study?

Until now, sales techniques had dodged science or, better said, had survived or fallen into oblivion on the principle of “trial and error”. Over the past few decades, however, we have witnessed an intense advancement in our knowledge of various aspects of the human mind. Thus, today we know much more about aspects such as memory, perception or motivation.

On the other hand, thanks to modern neuroimaging techniques, we also better understand how the consumer’s brain works. Together, these two insights give life to neuromarketing, a science that has revolutionized the way large companies sell.

By implementing all the discoveries of this discipline, businesses are exploiting the prejudices of our brain in order to achieve several objectives:

• Create more attractive products.
• Enhance the brand image.
• Distinguish your products from those of the competition.
• Change the purchasing context to increase sales.

• Increase the benefits obtained.

For this reason, the study of the consumer’s brain has become a valuable source of knowledge to succeed in selling. Below, we find some of the most common areas of application among those discovered by neuromarketing.

1. Design of shopping trolleys

Have you ever wondered why shopping trolley wheels seem to be deflected when moving over large surfaces? Strange as it may seem, this feature is not accidental. It has been found that when the cart swerves towards the shelves, we tend to pay attention to the products displayed there. And, therefore, to buy them.

But this isn’t the only feature of shopping carts that was inspired by the study of the consumer’s brain. Size is also important; just because of how our mind works, we tend to fill the container we are carrying. For this reason, the larger the cart, the more money we will tend to spend.

2. Arrangement of products inside the supermarket for the consumer’s brain

Another practical application of neuromarketing is the design of stores and shelves on which products are displayed. As a consequence of the functioning of our brain, we tend to choose the ones that are most at hand (even if only so as not to have to bend over…).

Precisely in light of this, the height at which the products are placed on the shelves is considered. Thanks to techniques such as pupil movement scanning, it has been found that we tend to buy more easily what is at eye level. For this reason, the most expensive brands are located at the height of our face, while the “anonymous” ones are located at the bottom.

On the other hand, basic necessities are usually found at the end of the shop. In this way, to buy them we will have to go through different corridors that will attract our attention; in general, we end up buying a lot more than what we initially needed.

Effects of these techniques on the consumer’s brain

Discovering the neuromarketing techniques employed by the world of sales, one might wonder where the free will of consumers resides. Is it that simple to manipulate us into buying a certain product?

This question is exactly at the heart of some studies conducted by R. Mark Wilson, Jeannie Gaines and Ronald Paul Hill and, sadly, the answer is not entirely clear. However, as with persuasion, we know that these techniques are most effective when we don’t pay particular attention to what we do (as happens, for example, when we are in a hurry).

If you want to avoid falling into the neuromarketing network, you ‘d better dedicate the necessary time to shopping, go there with a list and try to expand it as little as possible. In addition, it is recommended to go there after eating, as this way the calorie products will not seem so interesting.

These little tricks can make the difference between shopping driven by our needs and one driven by the supermarket that sells the products.