IMPACT OF NEUROMARKETING ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Abstract

The capacity to evoke an emotional answer through an advertisement or another communication instrument is one of the main aims of marketing. However, it is not easy to measure or quantify emotions. This problem has led marketing scholars to elaborate new models of utility and individual rationality. Managers are always researching factors based on attitude and consumer behaviour that can provide a competitive advantage. Traditionally, marketing and advertising scholars have utilised research based on focus groups to obtain answers about products and brand communication, but market change requires new technologies to understand consumers’ minds scientifically. Over the past few years, researchers have developed different neurophysiological methods to analyse consumer behaviour and the effects of advertising, with the aim of clarifying different aspects of marketing. Neuromarketing accesses the nonconscious reactions of consumers to a product, brand, or advertising spot to better understand the behaviour of the consumer, the purchasing decision or how aspects such as emotions and cognitive biases affect decision-making. Neuromarketing overcomes the limits of conventional methods to test and forecast efficiency in advertising investment, offering a cutting-edge methodology to directly probe consumers’ minds without requiring demanding cognitive participation. The aim of this study is to show, through a deep examination of the literature and results obtained, how the main methodology utilised in neuromarketing can contribute significantly to the efficiency of commercial advertising messages, In this way, it offers a managerial explanation about the usefulness of neuromarketing techniques in customers’ decision-making processes. The discussion of neuromarketing in this paper is based on reports of both a theoretical and applied nature. Their contents have been synthesized and placed into context by showing how they relate to traditional marketing research approaches and assumptions. Preliminary assessments suggest that traditional, inferential assumptions about consumer behaviour might be less powerful and explanatory than once believed. v While many are enthusiastic about the potential of neuromarketing, others remain sceptical. A range of concerns have also been raised and some consumer groups worry about the ethics of permitting companies an opportunity to exert even more influence over what we choose. There is likewise awareness of practical issues, not least the doubts about whether findings can be generalized in the presence of “a genetically and culturally” diverse population in an almost infinite variety of situation. Through this study, we have reviewed the different aspects of neuromarketing, how neuromarketing affects consumer behaviour, what emotions and what reactions lead us to take a decision and how marketing materials can evoke those emotions. We have also seen how these techniques have been successfully used in real life.