Studying consumer behaviour is going beyond questionnaires and market surveys with Nielsen, a global information and measurement company setting up a consumer neuroscience lab in India. The lab in Mumbai with equipment to study consumers’ responses to advertisements and commercials by measuring their brain activity and tracking eye movement can help marketers understand what makes buyers tick.

Nielsen India’s first-of-its-kind consumer neuroscience lab equipped with EEG technology to observe and study consumer behaviour takes consumer research beyond surveys and focus group discussions to the science of measuring brainwaves and eye-tracking.

Subconscious probe

A plain vanilla survey does not bring out the emotions that a consumer goes through at a subconscious level. But, EEG can precisely measure brain activity while an attached eye tracking equipment measures pupil movement. By pairing the results of EEG with eye-tracking, experts can pinpoint areas of focus and a person’s response to them.

It will also measure consumer attention, engagement and memory retention, enabling marketers to better understand the effectiveness of advertising, branding, product development and packaging across industries including consumer packaged goods, retail and entertainment.

Cutting corners

At a time when advertisers and marketers are desperate to find out what clicks in the consumer’s mind, and how he or she wants it, Nielsen’s neuroscience lab can help them minimise their ‘Marketing Waste’, which is a huge concern with brands and a burden on marketing budgets, Joe Willke, President Nielsen Neuro, told BusinessLine .

Nielsen has 13 such syndicated neuroscience labs worldwide, and India follows countries such as the UK, US, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, Russia, Japan and China in setting up a dedicated neuroscience lab.

It expects the neuroscience approach to make a huge difference in the Indian marketplace. Nielsen India has tied up with the premier technology institute IIT-Gandhinagar in Gujarat, the only institute with a neuroscience division, to promote, encourage and built the right talent.

If this technology delivers all that is promised, it is sure to shake up the consumer research market, says a confident Willke.

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