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Skin Deep: Galvanic Skin Response

What do we do at Future Thinking?

We offer insight led solutions that follow the natural lifecycle of winning brands, inspire action to gain

competitive advantage

LaunchLeading entrepreneurial and global brands through their NPD and branding journey for in-market success

CommunicateMonitoring brand impact and helping building relationships through paid, earned and owned media

ExperienceMeasuring performance and driving improved customer experience, satisfaction, loyalty and revenue to give competitive advantage

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Behavioural economics gives us frameworks to explore the complexity of human behaviour

People are poor witnesses to their own motivations. Behavioural Economics has helped us to better understand human behaviour by identifying the wide range of influences, from society and social

mores, to our own beliefs

In essence…..people function incredibly well most of the time by making less than perfect decisions

So Behavioural Economics helps us understand human judgement and decision making

Intuitively Emotionally Comparatively Quickly Effortlessly

Behavioural Economics acknowledges the inherent biases and distortions that characterise human judgement and

decision making

In a nutshell….the application of lessons from psychology to economic behaviour

in the real world

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Where Galvanic Skin Response sits in the whole field of behavioural economics

MEASURING RESPONSES

NeuroMetric(brain or neutral response)

EEG FMRI

BioMetric (biological/ physiological response)

EYE TRACKING FACIAL DECODING

SKIN PERSPIRATION (GALVANIC SKIN

RESPONSE)HEARTBEAT

RESPIRATION PATTERNS BLOOD PRESSURE

EXPLAINING RESPONSE

PsychoMetric (psychological or implicit response)

IMPLICITASSOCIATION TESTS

PRIMING TESTS

ETHNOGRAPHYPROJECTION TECHNIQUES

SEMIOTICSAPPLICATION OF

THEORETICAL MODELS

ONLINECOMMUNITIES

ACCOMPANIED SHOPS, INTERCEPTS

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Galvanic Skin Response: Skin Deep – Cracking our Elusive System 1

We capture System 1 responses…

Allows us to access unconscious and

implicit System 1 responses to

stimulus and environments

1 2 3 4 5

...using GSR sensors

We use GSR sensors attached to the

first and middle fingers, which

measure skin conductance or the

amount you sweat in response to

different stimulus

...in different research scenarios

GSR can be used in a range of

different scenario from new comms

testing, to on pack information,

concept testing and in store

experiences

…by measuring physiological

responses

Every emotion or unconscious

response has a physiological

response e.g. increased heart rate,

muscle movement, sweating

...to understand key moments of

engagement

By combining traditional qual

research techniques and GSR

measurements we identify

unconscious key moments of

engagement and understand why

they are engaging

We use Galvanic Skin Response to measure unconscious reaction to stimulus and environments

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The GSR kit

GSR sensors attached to index and middle

fingers and wrist

Tablet to view ads /

films record

conscious response

to what is seen using

the Valence slider

Spy glasses to

film what is

looked at in

order to overlay

the GSR

measurement

onto the film

Easy to wear and unobtrusive

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What does GSR measure?

We use cutting edge technology to measure and explain emotional engagement with different stimulus

SKIN CONDUCTANCE"System 1" is fast, instinctive and emotional - the under-the-surface gutresponse. We use GSR sensors to measure Skin Conductance. Whenexposed to different stimuli, sweat levels change, which is enough tochange the electrical conductivity of the skin.

VALENCE"System 2” is slower, more deliberative, and more logical - thecalculated, processed response. We use traditional qualitativequestioning techniques and in some cases use a vertical slider on atablet to help us understand how respondents are reacting to differentstimuli. We call this Valence

VALENCE + SKIN CONDUCTANCEBy combining Skin Conductance with Valence we can identifymoments of key engagement and understand why they are significant

What do we measure?

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Each zone of engagement highlights peaks in emotional response. Each moment is recognised as having a percentage over 2%. A high moment of engagement can be measured between 7 – 11%.

SKIN CONDUCTANCE Skin conductance provides the ‘instant’ emotional impact

VALENCE Valence response provides the context of that emotional impact

How to Interpret Galvanic Skin Response Data

Graphing skin conductance and valence data presents a narrative of emotional engagement

Time Time Time

Increased Valence &

Skin Conductance, indicating

EXCITEMENT

Increased Valence & Decreased Skin

Conductance, indicating an

INTERESTED EMOTIONAL RESPONSE

Decreased Valence &

Skin Conductance indicating

A DISINTERESTED EMOTIONAL RESPONSE

ZONE OF ENGAGEMENT

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Using GSR to compare video clips and identify moments of engagement

X voiceover outlining his vision

Nature shot flowing into the birds

eye view of the brand

Fig 1.

+5%

Fig 2.

+2%

X attaching the tennis racket

to the amputee

X’s creative process on a window

Fig 3.

+4%

Fig 4.

+2%

Beach scene at sunrise

Outside talking to one another

Fig 6.

+2%

Fig 5.

+6%

X delivering a new version

of a leg prosthetic

The mechanical piece in X’s hand

Fig 7.

+4%

Fig 8.

+4%

Brand and Channel Marker

Close up shot of X

Fig 9.

+4%

Fig 10.

+5%

Moment of peak engagement

+7% and above

Moment of positive engagement

+2 %-+6%Moment of negative engagement

-2% and below

Fig 8.

+4%

Fig 5.

+6%

Fig 10.

+5%

Fig 9.

+4%

Fig 7.

+4%

Fig 6.

+2%

Fig 4.

+2%

Fig 3.

+4%

Fig 2.

+2%

Fig 1.

+5%

SKIN CONDUCTANCE VALENCE NEUTRAL

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When discussing quality spontaneously some signifiers got more of a visceral reaction and interest than others

Even though these weren’t verbalised as key priorities when discussing quality, their unconscious response shows

they have an important role to play in choice. These are the areas that need to be dialled up on pack

Using GSR in a focus group situation to assess the quality of toys

Trust in brand

5%+ increase

Robustness

and colour

5%+ increase

Educational and

stimulating

8%+ increase

BRANDSPHYSICALPRODUCT

FEATURES ANDON-PACK INFORMATION

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Using GSR to assess the shopping experience in a busy supermarket

We overlay GSR data with

footage from spy glasses

enabling a non-invasive

method of recording video

as well as in the moment

conscious feedback

collected via a tablet

GSR peaked at

Gondola end (+32%)

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Why use GSR?

01 02 03

A VIEW INTO THE SYSTEM 1 BRAIN

Allows us to get a glimpse into our

unconscious System 1 brain which is

responsible for as much as 95% of

our everyday decision making,

providing key insights that can

influence the products or

experiences we deliver

IMPROVED BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Understanding how consumers

interact emotionally can improve

performance on many different

metrics e.g. recent research has

shown emotive ad campaigns can

lead to a 30% uplift in sales and a

three fold increase in brand loyalty

(source, Adam&Eve DDB)

EASY AND UNOBTRUSIVE

Unobtrusive technology that can be

worn in real life environments rather

than artificial lab based

environments

www.futurethinking.com | @FutureThinkHQ | +44 (0) 3333 208 220

Anna Appleford

Senior Director

anna.appleford@futurethinking.com