In order to measure consumer behaviour and brand perceptions of customers; the marketing experts, brand managers, advertisers, and market researchers have recently begin to prefer Neuroscience Research, which pinpoints the underlying emotional and rational factors that influence the brain’s decision-making process. Neuromarketing, which is within the scope of Social Neuroscience, reveals how the brains of people as customers, and ultimately THE PEOPLE AS SHOPPERS work in decision of shopping by feeding on science and marketing.
Currently, one of the most important technologies in the hands of Neuromarketing is Electroencephalogram (EEG). EEG, the electrical activity of the cerebral cortex, allows the measurement of brain activity without causing any pain or damage to the subject. There are 2 different methods specified in the literature for measurements made with EEG. These are:
- Standard EEG (On-Going)
- Event-Related Potentials (ERP)
Standard EEG
The results that can be obtained by measuring ongoing brain activity using the standard EEG method, without making any hypothesis or experimental design in order to obtain reliable information about the brain, have a limited efficacy.
Event-Related Potentials (ERP)
It is possible to measure the responses of the brain to these stimuli in a specific manner by repeatedly providing static visual or auditory stimuli derived from EEG that presented within an experimental design, and analysing the EEG signals obtained in a temporal correlation. These measurement techniques are called Event-Related Potentials (ERP) and Event-Related Oscillations (ERO).These methods makes it possible to measure with high accuracy the mental processes of the brain such as attention to specific stimuli, recording in the memory, recalling from the memory, semantic processing, and decision making.
Differences and Superiorities of the Event-Related Potentials (ERP) Method
- Name: The measurement made with plain EEG without using the ERP method is called the Standard EEG Study.
- Scientificness: The standard EEG study is only a measurement. However, the ERP method is the most scientific method in the cognitive field.
- Reliability: The rate of reliability is over 95% in measurements made with ERP.
- Hypothesising: ERP is a study of hypotheses, in which some hypotheses are created before the study in order to answer the questions asked by the customer about the stimulus to be tested (i.e. brand concept, packaging, logo etc.)
- Researche: There are many type of research in neuromarketing. Studies such as “Concept Test”, “Image Research”, “Brand Creation and Development”, “Animatic or Storyboard Pre-Tests” can be carried out with ERP.
- Methodology: The methods of standard EEG and ERP study are completely different from one another. Please contact NeuroMark for more information.
- Memorability and Semantic Correspondance: In the Event-Related Potentials methodology, the scores of ‘Semantic Correspondance’ and ‘Memorability’ are determined in addition to the ‘Attention’, ‘Mental Effort’ and Positive and Negative Emotion Level’ in the Standard EEG. Semantic Correspodance brings forward the real association between the attributes/qualities that are thought to be associated with the brand.
IN CONCLUSION:This measurement methodology is the mainstay of the great success of Cognitive Neuroscience in the last 20 years, which we can only ask to the brain specific questions about cognition with ERP. Only Neuro-Mark applies this very efficacious and advanced methodology in Turkey.