Editor’s note: Kirk Hendrickson is CEO of market research firm Eye Faster, Walnut Creek, Calif.
Subconscious buying behavior, or the initial point of entry into a consumer’s thoughts before provoking them to purchase, is typically triggered by a combination of perception and emotional response. We have observed this type of behavior consistently in our eye-tracking research. Although most people offer rational reasons for why they select an item (replacing something after running out, friend and family recommendations, on-sale, brand loyalty), the truth is that the majority of purchase decisions aren’t quite so logical. Here are six key terms that will help you understand how decisions are made and how you can harness this information when conducting research to improve your brand performance.
1. The subconscious mind
The word subconscious literally means below awareness. This level of the mind is not well defined or understood but it has tremendous power over human perception and behavior. Almost all brain activity takes place on the subconscious level. Estimates vary but perhaps a mere 10 percent of information reaches the conscious mind. As Freud put it, “The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain playing in the sun and falling back into the great subterranean pool of subconscious from which it rises.”
One of the toughest parts about assessing the subconscious is that the moment a thought is actively considered, it is no longer subconscious but rather conscious. You cannot rely on someone remembering something to understanding the subconscious. However, when it comes to visual attention, you can use eye-tracking.
2. Eye-tracking
While performing shopper insights research, you can utilize eye-tracking technology to precisely observe what is drawing the attention of a given shopper and how that affects their decision-making. The eye-tracking technology relies on a pair of glasses with two small cameras that catch even the smallest eye movements. Researchers record subject’s eye movements and what the subject sees in their field of vision to obtain a crosshair video of their focused attention.
After shoppers complete their shopping trip, researchers survey them about their experience. You can also watch the crosshair video with shoppers and ask them what they were thinking in each moment. When you analyze the data and compare it with the shopper’s conscious thinking and recollections, it becomes clear that the vast majority of visual information travels through the eyes directly into the subconscious mind and never reaches the conscious level. But it’s also clear that the information stored in the subconscious influences buying behavior.
3. Vast visual onslaught
Think about how much information is in front of your eyes in a mass merchandise store like Target or Walmart. Each package or item may have colors, shapes, brand names, text and pictures. In-store signage can have text, images, lights, movement or shapes. Each of these things has greater meaning in context and they’re all vying for your attention. Thankfully, the human eye is a remarkable tool for filtering the information into your conscious mind where thoughts are formed.
But before any of those thoughts reach the surface, that information is just part of the subterranean pool of visual data that your eyes filter into your subconscious mind. And, in order for data to make it even that far, your eyes have to take it in.
4. Fixations
Fixations are the building blocks of eye-tracking research and important when understanding how information travels to our brain. The human eye moves abruptly, not continuously. Movement occurs every three to six seconds, and in between your eyes are still. The movements, called saccades, last about 20 to 40 microseconds and you are likely unaware that they are happening. The still periods, which last 100 to 400 microseconds, are called fixations. Your brain can only process information from fixations lasting 200 milliseconds or longer.
The fixation location is very small; you can only perceive information approximately two degrees around it. Beyond this narrow area of focus, visual information cannot be processed. You can analyze each individual fixation when processing eye-tracking information and then diagram around two degrees to illustrate everything the shopper saw. This is all the information that is sent to the subconscious mind.
5. The consideration set
Shoppers can fixate on a tremendous number of items in a short period of time. In one study we performed in a music store, one subject fixated 245 different times in five minutes. That’s a lot of information. While the subconscious mind is capable of taking in all that information, processing it into conscious thought and memory would be impossible.
When you shop, your subconscious mind is constantly filtering information into a consideration set of items that could be worth bringing to the conscious level. All of your prior experience and knowledge of what you’re looking at gives your subconscious the tools to determine what you should consider consciously and what can be filtered out.
For example, categories in groceries stores are generally organized similarly and have been for nearly all your experiences in a grocery store. Cereal is a great example: grocers put children’s cereal on the lower shelves so it will be at eye level for kids. Shoppers who don’t have children don’t even glance at the lower shelves.
6. Emotional response
Emotional and physiological reactions also often occur at the subconscious level. In prior research we’ve done, changes in heart rate, skin conductivity, pulse rate, facial expressions or brain activity can cause a shopper to react. When combining eye-tracking research with biometric equipment, researchers can understand what items cause emotional or physiological responses and measure how those reactions may correlate to an individual’s likelihood to react, often without the participant knowing they’re having any reaction at all.
A positive emotional reaction will likely increase the likelihood a shopper will consider purchasing that product. Many new products fail not because they’re not a good product or something people want (although those are important, too) but because its’ packaging caused the wrong subconscious reaction. Incorporating biometric testing into package testing research can help make sure your product elicits the right emotional or physiological response.