Natalia Galkina is an innovative entrepreneur in the field of neurotechnology, founder and CEO of JSC "Neurotrend", the market leader in neuromarketing research in Russia, and LLC "NeuroChat", a neurocommunication system for people with speech and movement disorders and a platform for neurotraining and prevention of dementia. Both Natalia's projects are residents of Skolkovo.

 

Natalia is the winner of the prestigious personal awards "Business Woman" and "Entrepreneur of the Year" EY 2017 in the nomination High Technology and BIZZ Award 2019 (award for business excellence from the World Business Confederation).

 

Natalia, please tell us, first of all, what tasks does neuromarketing solve?

 

Natalia: Neuromarketing is a tool with which you can measure a person's reaction to a particular marketing stimulus (heart rate, bioelectric activity of the brain, movement and gaze fixation). It works at the level of the unconscious, unlike most other research tools, in which people's words play a key role. Therefore, with the help of neuromarketing, you can solve the following tasks:

 

·         To get objective information about consumer preferences, because we record the reaction that a person has already given out, but has not yet realized.

·         Develop strategies that are consistent with the expectations of a potential buyer and become as attractive as possible for him.

·         Predict consumer choice.

 

Due to the fact that neuromarketing captures reactions that a person does not realize, it is often accused of zombifying the audience. What do you think about this?

 

Before conducting a neuromarketing study, you must obtain the informed consent of all participants. It is important to explain to them that the equipment used in the study does not affect the respondent, but only registers the physiological reactions of a person. Researchers measure them and evaluate the emotional response that a person has, the memorability potential, attention and interest, then interpret the results and make recommendations based on them.

 

Potential advertisers use this information to convey information to the consumer, and not to subconsciously force him to buy something. Neuromarketing allows you to understand what a person thinks and feels.

 

This is most clearly manifested in priming. Priming is the fixation of a certain installation. To show how priming works, I will give a favorite example that dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. The goalkeeper of the Czech national football team, Frantisek Planichka, was famous for being able to beat off penalties even the best scorers. When an 11-meter shot was assigned to his goal, he would tear off his cap, throw it at the gate, and take up a position. As a result, 9 times out of 10, the penalty taker hit exactly where the cap flew. In a short interval, Frantishek programmed the opponent to make a shot at the angle he needed.

 

And how to build priming in advertising so that it works?

There are three main rules, following which, you can build priming in advertising:

 

·         A potential buyer should experience the condition that will lead to the purchase. Imagine that you are walking along Tverskaya. It's hot outside, you're thirsty. You see a huge billboard with a bottle of water of a well-known brand, with droplets dripping from it. Then after 300-500 meters you can see the store. If you don't have a rule to drink water only of a certain brand, most likely you will buy the water you saw on the billboard. If you are not thirsty, then priming will not work.

·         A potential buyer should like the condition he will receive. If you don't like the taste of coffee, you can't be banned from drinking coffee.

·         The most difficult rule is that a person should not understand that the installation is being fixed. As soon as we see a little more intrusive advertising, we close and the effect goes away.

There are a lot of secrets of working priming, in fact. For example, too high and low prices are alarming, since a person has a desire for the average. Too cheap milk is perceived as unnatural, and too expensive raises questions: what is there in this milk that it costs so much.

In the real world and space, it is difficult to simulate priming. But the rapid entry of VR technologies into marketing will change this. Technologies will allow you to simulate the layout of the goods and see how people take the goods. Therefore, in VR reality, we will be able to create, test and simulate priming effects.

 

It turns out that almost all brands use priming — someone consciously, someone on a whim?

Priming cannot be built on a whim, it is done only consciously. By chance, good content may turn out, but the priming rule will not work there. You either understand what you are doing and consciously lead consumers, or you do not build priming at all. Here is an example with two columns: colors are written in one, fruits in the other. And the last word is only the first two letters (for example, GR). We unmistakably call Green in the column with flowers, and Grape in the column with fruits.

 

This example shows that people think in stereotypes. This is often used in advertising.

 

All stereotypes are based on our innate biological needs. For example, going on vacation, we experience a positive, in case of illness — a negative. These are stereotypes. It is easier to reach the audience through them. If we talk about medications, we show the pain and show the solution. This will work for everyone. If we talk about drinks, food, then again we think in stereotypes — men fishing or in the woods, women in cafes, all together — in the cinema. This is a habitual understanding of behavior.

 

Another important observation is that looking at advertising, we try to relate ourselves to its characters. Therefore, if our buyer is a middle—aged woman with a little overweight, it is better to take an actress with whom this woman can compare herself.

 

There is a misconception that men react only to beautiful women. Of course, a man reacts to a beautiful woman, but if there is both a man and a woman in the video sequence, then the man will pay more attention to the man. We have done a lot of such experiments on short films, full-length films, and advertising. This is also due to innate needs. If there is a man and a very beautiful woman in the frame, then first the man looks at the woman, evaluates her, after that all attention goes to the on-screen opponent. With the help of eytracking, we also found out that men pay more attention to men and food, and women pay more attention to children, clothes and shoes.

 

Is there any data on who responds better to various neuromarketing techniques? Does it depend on gender, age, life stages?

 

If we are talking about behavioral effects, then everyone is subject to them. Women are more emotional, so they are more susceptible to some things. But in general, if we talk about behavioral effects, there are no gender differences. Another thing is that women most often go shopping here. Therefore, advertising tries to influence them first of all.

 

Now gender perceptions are changing: women no longer really want to see a housewife in advertising, but prefer a stronger and more confident heroine.

 

Is there any way to track these trends with the help of neuromarketing tools, and are there studies now that confirm such assumptions?

 

The question is not what women want to be. The question is how they identify themselves. And not only from the point of view of consumption, but also from the point of view of buyers.

 

We had such a case. In an advertisement for one of the food products for the mass market, a very beautiful brunette of model appearance was shown. And the buyers were middle-aged women with excess weight, they had nothing but irritation from this advertisement. Both when viewing and when discussing. Therefore, in the most successful advertising campaigns there are always heroes with whom we want to compare ourselves. We see family, favorite actors, and they don't have to be super sexy. Although there are products in which you need to use the aspirations of the audience, shifting gender perceptions. In any case, you need people to believe you.

 

We have come to the question that the whole market is concerned about: is it possible to track the relationship between business results and neuromarketing?

 

Yes. One of the first works evaluating the relationship between business and neuromarketing was done back in 2012 by Falk. Then three advertising materials (A, B and C) were taken and tested using a conventional survey and using neuromarketing technologies — an eye tracker, an electroencephalograph, a polygraph. After analyzing the effectiveness of advertising materials, it turned out that the economic results corresponded to the results of neuromarketing testing. Advertising, which received the highest indicators in neuromarketing testing, led to the highest economic results. And vice versa: the lowest neuromarketing indicators coincided with the lowest economic results.

 

Analysts predict that by 2021, neuromarketing technologies will reach early maturity. This means that neuromarketing tools will be used in most qualitative research. For example, even now only the lazy do not use an eytracker. This is quite an affordable tool — its cost starts from $ 100.

 

Classic tools — surveys or interviews — are also not going anywhere. It is important for us to understand what a person experienced in the process of contact, and how he then interpreted it for himself, how he talks about it. We communicate with the help of speech, we launch the same word of mouth with the help of speech. We are not talking about replacing one with another, but about using a set of tools, because insight is always at the junction of the conscious and the unconscious. And that's what we're looking for.

 

Original article: https://marketingclass.ru/blog-natalia-galkina