Is your product packaging or TV advertisements ticking all the right boxes? Let eye-tracking research provide the answers.

At  Market Instinct, we specialise in FMCG market research, and can assist in identifying new customers, or help you get to know the views of your existing ones.  Our marketing insights give companies the opportunity to best position their products in the market, and make adaptions to packaging or product positioning where needed. Eye-Tracking is one component of package testing that plays a vital role in ensuring your product will be best positioned within today’s competitive market, where customers are often spoilt for choice.

When considering new packaging designs, or trying to find out whether your latest print or TV advertisement is creating the desired, impactful affect – eye tracking research can assist in a) identifying what consumers look at when looking at the full product category and b) which packaging or elements stand out the most, and what aspects are potentially being overlooked.

This research assists in the following ways;

• Keeps packaging/advertising simple, with minimal clutter
• Ensures none of the important information is being overlooked
• Keeps marketing teams on the same page and helps them make decisions on final packaging/TV advertisements
• Ensures that your packaging stands out

Method we use to do eye tracking research:

Eye-tracking is done using an infrared tracker, which is placed at the bottom of a computer screen. The test packs or advertisements are shown on the screen, where they are evaluated by tracking eye movements and gazes. The eye tracker measures how long consumers look at a specific point, what stands out the most.  The data is analysed and heat maps or gaze points can be shown. As part of the feedback we also make mention of important information that respondents do not pay attention to, so that our clients can tweak the creative/designs to highlight these critical points.

Value of eye-tracking:

When a marketing team cannot decide on specific elements to include/exclude they can be highlighted and specific analysis of those areas can be built into the test.

An example of packing tested by the team (with 10 second exposure) shows the extent to which respondents focus on the branding of the J&J body lotion pack. The red areas attracted the most attention. Interesting to note – the complete lack of attention paid to the flower in the bottom right hand corner. Surprising indeed! Additional questioning would highlight the importance of the flower – perhaps just a quick fragrance trigger?

In terms of packaging, eye tracking can provide answers to the following questions:

• Do consumers notice the products at all?
• Is this packaging attractive enough for consumers?
• Does this packaging draw consumers’ attention?
• What aspects of the packaging are consumers ignoring?
• What aspects are they focusing on the most?
• Is important information visible enough?

If you need more certainty on whether packing designs or TV ads are ticking all the boxes, get in touch with Market Instinct.