Product noting is important, but actual engagement is required to predict true success.
There are a variety of methodologies available in the marketplace that record eye movement and note when products have been seen on shelf. And, as a result, clients often come to PTG looking for us to assist them in measuring how successful their product is at being distinguished among the competition.
As part of these conversations, we explain to our clients that on average 7,000 packages are noted during a simple supermarket trip, yet only 17 items are actually purchased. Often, noting of a product is just required to find the desired product usually placed alongside it. What this means is capturing noting does offer some valuable information; however, evaluating noting in the absence of actual consumer engagement can lead to false results.
Here’s an example that we often share to illustrate our point. Our research has found that noting increases dramatically when a key brand like Kleenex is removed from the shelves. In the absence of additional data points around consumer behavior, this increase in noting would lead one to believe that there was sustained interest in other facial tissue brands; but the reality is, the uptick in noting was the result of consumers searching the shelf for the missing category leader.
When the same scenario was tested using PTG’s truShelf simulated store environment, our patented Saccadic Eye Movement Recorder measured actual consumer engagement and product interaction which provided a much more comprehensive understanding of respondent involvement. For example, we were able to report the degree to which respondents zoomed in on a product, examined a specific section on a shelf and read ingredients on a package – line by line. This level of information not only provides the tactics and recommendations needed for improvement on the shelf, and at the component level, but it also serves as the critical information needed to prove or disprove the noting data. In the example above, our simulated shopping methodology rightly concluded that something was amiss on the facial tissue shelf when noting was up but consumer engagement was nil.
Why is measuring Saccadic eye movement so important? Saccadic eye movement is a biometric indicator that objectively measures cognitive processing. In order for the brain to gain a visual picture of a stimulus, the eye must vibrate and provide constant streams of information to the center of the retina called the fovea. The more visual information the brain wants, the more actively the eye vibrates. These mini-movements are known as macro-saccades. In order for the brain to remember a specific visual, the eye fixates and stops moving for a fraction of a second. These macro-saccades and fixations reflect an empirical level of respondent behavioral engagement that is uniquely recorded by PTG’s patented Saccadic Eye Movement Recording system.
Interested in learning how measuring engagement with Saccadic eye movement is more effective than noting and more indicative of future sales success? Let’s talk. I can be reached at dan.morris@pretesting.com.