What is Eye Tracking?

Eye tracking is a cutting-edge technique used to measure where someone is looking and for how long. By using specialised equipment and software, it’s possible to track eye movements and fixations, mapping out a person’s visual journey with incredible detail. The data it provides is invaluable for marketers, offering insights into consumer attention, interest, and decision-making.

Key eye-tracking metrics include:

• Fixations (where a person rests their gaze, this is where attention is given)
• Fixation Duration (how long they rest their gaze on an area, indicating how long it captures their interest and how engaging the material is)
Number of fixations (how many times a person returns to fixate on an area of interest)
• Time to first fixation (how long it takes a person to look at an area of interest, indicating how visually striking something is and how easily it can be spotted in amongst its environment)
• Number of consumers who fixated (this tells us how easy the material is to detect and how interesting and engaging it is)
• Saccades (rapid eye movements between fixations – these tell us about the visual journey that people take and how their attention is captured. Some basic information can be processed in the peripheral vision, and this can help people to plan where they look next).

Researchers draw an area of interest (AOI) around a key message or marketing feature or a key product on a shelf for example, and can extract this visual data in the form of heatmaps (hotspots that tell us how long a consumer dwells on an area), gaze plots (maps which show the order of the visual journey) and statistical insights (comparisons between different AOIs to see how attention is distributed).

Brands can use these insights to learn which elements of their marketing or product design capture attention, and which are overlooked. This allows for real-time adjustments to ensure messages and products stand out in an increasingly cluttered marketplace.

Applications of Eye Tracking in Market Research

Vision One leverages cutting-edge technology such as the Pupil Labs Neon, an AI-enhanced, head-mounted eye tracker that allows brands to capture robust data in any environment. This breakthrough in mobility enables brands to gather consumer insights in real-world settings, offering unprecedented flexibility and accuracy.

Here’s how eye-tracking is revolutionising market research:

1. Advertising Effectiveness
   In an era where advertising has become ubiquitous, grabbing attention is more challenging than ever. Eye tracking helps brands test the effectiveness of ads by showing which elements (product images, logos, taglines) resonate most with audiences. For example, by examining eye-tracking heatmaps, a brand may discover that viewers are drawn to a secondary visual element rather than the main product, for example, a photo instead of a logo or a key message, which may be due to certain colour compositions or size. The brand can use this data to adjust the ad layout, repositioning important elements to better align with viewer focus and ensure maximum impact.
2. Website and App Usability
   Optimising user experience (UX) is key to reducing bounce rates and boosting engagement. Eye tracking provides detailed insights into user behaviour, helping brands streamline navigation, improve layouts, and make digital platforms more intuitive. By analysing gaze patterns, brands can ensure that consumers' attention flows naturally through their digital journey. For example, eye tracking can be used to evaluate the path users take while browsing a product page or an app. If the users' attention is scattered, it may indicate that the layout is too cluttered or that the navigation system is unclear. Based on these insights, the brand can redesign the page or app to ensure that the experience is as seamless as possible for consumers.
3. Packaging Design
   When products sit on a crowded shelf, eye tracking can reveal whether a package design is eye-catching or blends into the background. Brands can experiment with different packaging elements—colours, typography, size, imagery—to maximise visibility and ensure their products stand out.
4. In-Store Experience and Shopper Behaviour
   Head-mounted eye tracking glasses can provide real-time insights into shopper behaviour, allowing brands to optimise store layouts, displays, and promotional materials. By understanding how shoppers move through a store and where their attention lingers, brands can strategically position products to maximise purchase likelihood. For instance, eye tracking can reveal whether shoppers notice promotional displays or walk right past them. Based on this data, retailers can adjust the location and prominence of displays to ensure they capture attention at key points along the shopping journey to maximise likelihood of message consumption and thus promote purchase.
5. Content and Media Consumption
   For brands focused on media optimisation, eye tracking helps fine-tune content strategies. Whether analysing engagement with an article, video, or social media post, brands can see which elements hold attention and where improvements can be made to better engage audiences. For example, eye tracking can tell you which headlines or images engage the most attention and encourage them to click on articles, and video creators can see which scenes or elements hold viewers' gaze the longest. These insights help content creators optimize their work and tailor to their audience.

Benefits of Eye Tracking for Brand Growth

Eye tracking provides brands with actionable, data-driven insights that can dramatically improve their marketing strategies. Here’s how brands benefit:

1. Enhanced Customer Understanding
   Traditional focus groups and surveys often miss the mark, capturing only conscious decisions. Eye tracking, however, uncovers the subconscious drivers behind consumer behaviour, providing brands with deeper, more accurate insights into what truly engages their audience.
2. Improved ROI on Advertising Spend
   With precise data on what catches consumers’ attention, brands can make more informed decisions on ad placement, design, and messaging—ensuring that marketing dollars are spent wisely and yield higher returns.
3. Optimised User Experience
   A smooth user experience is crucial to building strong customer relationships. By identifying pain points in digital or physical environments, eye tracking helps brands improve UX, boosting customer satisfaction and retention.
4. A Competitive Edge
   Brands that harness eye-tracking technology can stay ahead of trends by identifying consumer preferences before they’re consciously recognised. This competitive advantage allows for quicker innovation and more effective marketing strategies.

Conclusion

Eye tracking is a game-changing tool in market research, offering brands a direct line to consumer attention and subconscious behaviour. By leveraging these insights, brands can refine their strategies, optimise designs, and ultimately drive brand growth. In a market where attention is a precious commodity, eye tracking gives brands the edge they need to stand out and succeed.