How can eye tracking technology help your marketing?

Your brain processes thousands of images daily. For marketing teams, understanding eye movement gives an insight into common browsing patterns that can reap huge rewards. 

What you see is what you buy

Eye tracking is one of the most accurate tools in market and consumer research as it tells you exactly what people look at and how long for. 

It will show you which parts of your product packaging gets the most attention and what catches the eye of a passing customer. Results can help you decide where to position products on a physical shelf, or whether adverts are in the right location in store.

The online version of creates heat maps, which show where people are clicking, scrolling and lingering. Marketers can use this information to optimise the journey of their visitors and help them through the buying journey more easily. 

Competition for eye gaze is fierce

Over in the US, New York is a living advertising space for brands, with every inch of space being a potential canvas for marketing messaging. Companies spend millions trying to grab your attention. Copywriter Scott Martin says: “If I spend approximately 16 hours awake, that’s 960 minutes and thus, in New York City, I see, on average, some type of advertising message every 20 seconds – depending on where my day takes me.” 

People see thousands upon thousands of marketing messages on a daily basis. We previously talked about the use of advertising on public transport and how a captive audience is receptive to marketing messages.

You’re drawn to a person’s eyes

UK consumers spend almost half of their time online on their smartphones, a study by Statista shows, so it’s vital advertisers understand how attention works on mobile, as well as desktop.

Studies such as ‘eye gaze cannot be ignored’ found that human beings have a natural tendency to follow the gaze of others. When looking at imagery we are drawn to a person's eyes, if the object of their focus is elsewhere we will follow their line of sight without a second thought. A useful tip to remember when you’re having photography done for your marketing. 

You can see that moving the baby has a clear impact on how much of the copy is read.

To learn more about how Crocstar can help, give us a call on 020 7183 1431 or email hello@crocstar.com.