The carmaker Honda is one of a growing number of businesses using neuroscience to learn how and why consumers decide what to buy - insight, it is hoped, that will help increase sales. Using a LifeShirt "smart garment" - a discreet piece of medical equipment designed by US tech company VivoMetrics to monitor patients outside the lab - Honda UK has researched the emotions of buyers visiting car dealerships.
Heart rate, respiration and muscle contraction are among the responses logged in an attempt to identify the triggers for a sale.
This is analysed against a range of other data about test subjects' experiences in each salesroom.
Honda found the results so persuasive that it is remodelling showrooms and retraining staff to tailor pitches according to a potential buyer's state of mind. "The hypothesis is that if you get the [sales] experience right, you may not need that price promotion to sell a product," explains Ian Armstrong, manager of customer communications for Honda UK. "Conventional research only gets you so far because it's rationalisation after the event, and most decision-making is done subconsciously. We set out to measure physical changes people cannot consciously control."
Honda is not alone in believing brain science can boost the bottom line. A growing number of businesses say that traditional ways of understanding consumers - direct questioning, observing our behaviour - don't explain why we buy one product over another. And they are turning to neuroscience for the answers.
Professor Gemma Calvert is co-founder of the Neurosense consultancy, which claims to provide consumer insight by scanning volunteers' brains. She uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify which parts of the brain respond to certain stimuli, and electroencephalography (EEG) to track the brain's electrical activity. "A growing focus of our work is arming clients with knowledge of when it's most appropriate to use a particular marketing technique," she says. British broadcaster GMTV used the procedures to gauge receptiveness to adverts at different times of the day. "The findings have been received more positively than any research we've ever done," enthuses Steve Elliott, GMTV head of research.
It's easy to see why. The study - which monitored responses in parts of the brain associated with enjoyment and understanding - concluded that a LifeShirt "smart garment" - a discreet piece of medical equipment designed by US tech company VivoMetrics to monitor patients outside the lab - Honda UK has researched the emotions of buyers visiting car dealerships. Heart rate, respiration and muscle contraction are among the responses logged in an attempt to identify the triggers for a sale. This is analysed against a range of other data about test subjects' experiences in each salesroom.
Honda found the results so persuasive that it is remodelling showrooms and retraining staff to tailor pitches according to a potential buyer's state of mind. "The hypothesis is that if you get the [sales] experience right, you may not need that price promotion to sell a product," explains Ian Armstrong, manager of customer communications for Honda UK. "Conventional research only gets you so far because it's rationalisation after the event, and most decision-making is done subconsciously. We set out to measure physical changes people cannot consciously control."
Honda is not alone in believing brain science can boost the bottom line. A growing number of businesses say that traditional ways of understanding consumers - direct questioning, observing our behaviour - don't explain why we buy one product over another. And they are turning to neuroscience for the answers. Professor Gemma Calvert is co-founder of the Neurosense consultancy, which claims to provide consumer insight by scanning volunteers' brains. She uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify which parts of the brain respond to certain stimuli, and electroencephalography (EEG) to track the brain's electrical activity. "A growing focus of our work is arming clients with knowledge of when it's most appropriate to use a particular marketing technique," she says. British broadcaster GMTV used the procedures to gauge receptiveness to adverts at different times of the day. "The findings have been received more positively than any research we've ever done," enthuses Steve Elliott, GMTV head of research.
It's easy to see why. The study - which monitored responses in parts of the brain associated with enjoyment and understanding - concluded that the brain is more receptive to advertising at breakfast time, and that this is as effective an ad medium as peak-time TV - for which advertisers pay a premium. "It's an approach that provides a well-rounded argument when combined with other data," he adds. "And it's hard to question the results when findings are accumulated in lab conditions." This last point demonstrates the persuasive power of neuroscience-based research. But it also highlights a key concern among many in the scientific community who are sceptical about some of the wilder claims made by non-scientists: talk of the brain's "buy button", for example.
John Bunyard is co-founder of Newcomen Group, which applies science to business problems and worked on Honda's LifeShirt project. "A scientific approach in business is undoubtedly the way ahead," he says. "But we are already seeing examples of some marketing-services people bamboozling clients with science." Tim Ambler, senior fellow at London Business School, shares this concern, dismissing neuromarketing as "quackery". "The basic science is only now being done. It's far too soon for definitive conclusions."
Nevertheless, growing demand from advertisers for proof of how communications work means the industry is under pressure to find a new model. Cheaper, more flexible neuro-imaging devices are in the pipeline, as entrepreneurs seek to cash in on an emerging market in the business world for modified medical diagnostic equipment.
Bunyard says: "The next generation of wearable monitoring tools for use outside the laboratory is where things will get really interesting. In an ideal world, the technology would be invisible and the subject barely conscious of wearing it at all."
So... the irresistible forces of demand and supply are propelling neuroscience towards the commercial mainstream.
This is just one element within Wired UK's special report on the new hidden persuaders. You can read the introduction to the special report here and a selection of the other articles here: - Data that define your retail options
How the TV watches you
When advertising gets in your face
Mining your mobile phone logs
Your unconscious mind has already voted
Now marketing gets sniffy
Neuromarketing is a go
Eye-tracking adverts
Your secret shopping personality
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
