Using an eye-tracking software in their study, researchers from the Netherlands and the University of Michigan have shown that it may be the goals in the minds of prospective consumers that drive what they pay attention to when exposed to an advertisement.
Washington, Aug. 8 : Using an eye-tracking software in their study, researchers from the Netherlands and the University of Michigan have shown that it may be the goals in the minds of prospective consumers that drive what they pay attention to when exposed to an advertisement.
Rik Pieters of Tilburg University in The Netherlands and Michel Wedel of the University of Michigan performed an eye tracking experiment on 220 consumers. The participants were split into four groups, each with a different goal, and given free rein to view a series of advertisements. They were allowed to look at the advertisements for as long as they would like.
Overall, the participants looked at the 17 target advertisements for an average of about four seconds only, but with notable differences in focus.
Participants who had been asked to memorize the advertisements focused on both the body text and the pictorial representation of the product, while those asked to learn about the brand paid enhanced attention to the body text and ignored the pictorial.
The findings support the Yarbus thesis that advertisement informativeness is goal-contingent.
Differences in pupil diameter between ad objects, but not between processing goals, reflect the pupil's role in maintaining optimal vision, say the researchers.
"The fact that even during the few seconds of self-paced ad exposure, attention patterns already differ markedly between consumers with different goals underlines the importance of controlling and knowing consumers' processing goals in theory building and during advertising pre- and post-testing," the researchers write.
In other words, the eyes are a reflection of consumer goals, they say.
ANI