Understand behavior.Grow further.insights

A. Insights about the insights industry / 11

Behavioral and neuro sciencesbehind effective ads / 12Test in-context for quality insights:Real vs. simulated feeds / 16Why contradicting behavioral andtraditional KPIs can be good for research / 20How to make CPG market research lean(er) / 24

B. From Zero to Hero: How to set up studies / 29

From Zero to Hero:Understand behavioral e-commerce testing / 30From Zero to Hero:Understand online pack shot behavioral testing / 35From Zero to Hero:Understand behavioral social media ad testing / 42

C. Behavioral case studies / 49

Breaking the #SocialMedia clutter:Which ads make an impact? / 50Breaking the #SocialMedia clutter:Do some industries have it harder? / 54Leverage #E-commerce PLP ads:Amazon Fresh behavioral study / 58What makes a #POSdisplay good? / 62

Preface: Growing further / 05The formula for predictive insights / 07

insights

PrefaceGrowing further

Preface

As the year comes to a close, we hand-picked the most valuable tips, thought-provoking angles, and actionable examples for this publication. We are at a crossroads, and it seems like everyone is expecting a lot from research in the decade we are about to enter. After the global market leaders have forsaken traditional research models for what behavioral technology has to offer, we can again prove the efficiency of the methods we preach. Here is an overview of the most useful lessons to take with us from 2019, to ensure insight-fueled growth for your business.

There are three types of exciting content in front of you - the first is a compendium of thought leadership pieces about insights fundamentals. We examine what hides behind effective advertising, and on which psychological and neurological foundations it relies on. That is followed by an evaluation of the impact of different tests in contexts. For example, we scrutinized two incredibly realistic environments to see which yields more accurate results: a simulated social media feed, and the respondent’s own social media feed. In one of our most popular and republished pieces, we explore another research dilemma: what happens when the survey and behavioral data seem to contradict each other and show no correlation - turns out, this is a blessing in disguise. Finally, we consider how you can apply Lean business principles to research, particularly in CPG.

In the second section, titled ‘Zero to Hero,’ there are three handy models for setting up behavioral studies if you are starting out with implicit research. EyeSee’s Insights directors shared their tips for study design, the most common pitfalls, and the most beneficial KPIs in three areas. E-commerce testing is growing exponentially, and we covered different levels of study you can pick; there’s a guide on how to test Hero images - since the way your product is presented can increase sales by up to 15%; lastly, a guide to social media testing that outlines a list of priorities you should consider and rearrange, depending on your budget.

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In the third section, you will find the best of our case studies and behavioral study findings. It is designed to be very practical and matter-of-fact. We cover #SocialMedia testing with extensive cross-industry research done on over 2000 respondents – filled to the brim with precious tips and insights; #E-commerce with a study of 4 different CPG categories on Amazon Fresh; and #POSdisplays in a shopper meta-study, compiling results from various studieswe ran over time.

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Our formula for predictive insights

EyeSee started off 7 years ago by pioneering a proprietary webcam-based eye tracking and facial coding platform. Since then, we have developed new methods, expanded our impressive client list to different industries, and refined how we test - all to provide fast, cost-effective, and globally scalable behavioral research.

So, what is the way to get actionable and predictive insights? We believe that the formula is:

A combination of behavioraland conventional methods

State-of-the-art visualizationsfor in-context testing

90+ experts conducting remoteresearch in over 40 countries

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This approach has earned us both client and industry recognition. For the third year in the row, we ranked in Deloitte’s top 500 fastest-growing tech companies in EMEA, and in the top 20 in Belgium, and most recently, our work for Microsoft won the Global MR project award at Quirk’s Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards, after being nominated in 3 categories. Let’s take a dive in the principles that enabled all of this.

Do it smart(er): Re-inventing market research to move beyond surveys

Our first major breakthrough was figuring out a way to test consumer behavior remotely by using respondents’ own devices (mobile and laptop webcams). This has effectively cut down the hassle and costs of traditional research on a central location. Furthermore, the conventional, long survey-based approach only scratched the surface by focusing on the rational and conscious mind. This way of research is in sharp contrast with how consumers actually behave – most purchase decisions are made subconsciously, in a split second. To tap into real insights behind consumer behavior and decisions, we firmly believe in applying a combination of methods. Many studies show that combining behavioral and conventional measurements increases predictive power by at least 40%. Not measuring the behavioral side is the same as ignoring essential data. Behavioral and conscious research evaluate different variables that complement each other and provide a big picture of your ad or product, thus enabling you to predict its effectiveness much better.

To understand behavior, testing in context is key

The context in which you conduct market research has a massive impact on the quality of data. Lifelike mobile, desktop, and cross-platform testing environments make your respondents feel less like they are part of a trial, and more like they are on a regular shopping trip or on a social media platform. This setting produces insights that

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https://hbr.org/1996/03/virtual-shopping-breakthrough-in-marketing-researchcleaning products% = estimated brand market shares in dollars

Actu

al s

tore

Virtual store

health and beauty aids

0%

10%

20%

0% 10% 20%

0.8virtual shopping

and real market sharecorrelation

Source:

correlate higher with real consumer behavior; virtual shopping scores over 0.8 (R2) on correlation with actual shopper behavior, while surveys go only as far as 0.2-0.3. Depending on our client’s needs and budget, we can create any environment simulation: (2D, 2.5D, or full 3D) brick-and-mortar store, e-commerce platform, or social media feed.

90+ top experts doing research worldwide

Making sense of real consumer decisions is crucial for brands, but complicated to do on your own. Understanding eye tracking or facial coding results alone is manageable, however, combining methods means more datapoints to interpret. In EyeSee, a team of over 90 insights, data, business, and marketing experts help conduct research in over 40 countries globally.

To understand behavior, testing in context is key 09

We test:

Going further: Fast, cost-effective and global The fast pace of the world is driving the need for businesses to become agile and adapt to rapid changes in the marketplace. Being competitive is no longer defined only by how much you can invest, but rather by how smart, fast and effective your investment is. Therefore, cost-effective and faster insights have become a prerogative. This can only be done with disruptive innovation. (Un)fortunately, speed, cost-effectiveness and innovation are not the characteristics of big incumbent market research agencies.

With innovation and passion, we crossed new milestones at EyeSee. We delivered a 3-pack design study with behavioral (eye tracking, virtual shopping…) and conventional methods in 3.5 days. The report was presented to the CMO of a Fortune 50 company. We collected more than 4,000 eye tracking sessions for 1 study. With Microsoft, we won the Global Market Research Project of the year at the Quirk’s awards.

A couple of years ago, a managing director of a big market research agency told me: “Nobody got fired by using Nielsen Bases”. That is true, and one of the biggest barriers for new innovative companies. Though, given the more concrete interest, I have a feeling that 2020 might be a pivotal year and clients might move away from solutions that were invented 30 years ago toward disruptive new solutions that they deserve. Don’t get me wrong, EyeSee is growing +50% per year and we are super happy with the support of current clients, but we could do so much more if more prospects joined the disruptive innovation movement.

Olivier Tilleuil

200packs per year

200ads per year

40online shops

per year

400keye tracking tests

in 2 years

10

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Insights aboutthe insights industry

Behavioral and neuro sciencesbehind effective ads

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is – I don’t know which half.”, said John Wanamaker, prominent merchant and pioneer marketer.

Ever since market research was introduced, one of its main goals was to provide insights which would help maximize the impact of ads and lower the waste of investments. During that time, surveys were the most widely used research method. This go-to method only taps into the conscious part of the brain and manages to lower the waste of investments from 50% to 40%. Why is using explicit survey as the only source of insight not enough? Because the conscious mind only plays a fraction of the purchase decision-making process.

It is not surprising that many studies have shown that implicit measurements are much better at predicting effectiveness than conscious measurements. Further, the combination of bothyields the best results.

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The science behind ad impact

To understand the actual process of ad impact, we benefit from understanding the neuroscience and psychology behind it. Here are several notions to keep in mind.

Our memory is associative, and this is how brands are stored. The general goal of advertising is to influence (or enhance) the perception about or the need for a product, brand or service in order to increase sales. A specific ‘neuron’ designated for a specific product does not exist – a brand is stored among a network of neurons. Our memory is associative in nature. To change the perception of a brand, you need to change the wider associations in the long-term memory.

Implicit associations are the key to a good ad. According to Robert Heath’s “Low Involvement Processing” theory, we do not draw explicit verbal conclusions, we process and store data through implicit associations – often without even realizing it. Awareness (and more top-of-mind awareness) is likely to be an offshoot of strong implicit associations. This would explain why some brilliant advertising campaigns scored low on tests that are using methodologies based on articulation and statements. Moreover, Heath argues that some emotional elements of advertising can elude the defense mechanisms we use to filter ads and subconsciously redirect our attention towards something else.

We are programmed to consider products already familiar to us. “Low Involvement Processing” theory and Kahneman’s “Dual System Theory” postulate two thinking systems: automatic and sub-conscious (System 1), and rational and controlled (System 2). The book ‘System 1: Unlocking profitable growth’ maintains that 3 elements are key for System 1: experience, emotions, and pattern recognition. This yields many questions: How can advertising play a role in experience? When making a purchase decision, will you consider all the products? Or only a few? Which few? It is more likely that consumers will consider familiar products over unfamiliar ones. But if they are to consider the unfamiliar products as well, they would need to learn about the product, include more options into consideration, etc. A selection among unfamiliar products means

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Advertising in trade journals

Adverts in popular magazines

Poster

Mailing (first relevant check)

Banner ad

1.7s

3.2s

1.5s

2s

<1s

0seconds 1 2 3 4

Showing ads only in full screen for around 7 seconds might provide researchers with a biased view. A longer exposure time ensures that people see up to 5-7 messages in an ad, which is not the case when they only glance at it for a split second. One can argue that a person will be exposed to an ad multiple times during a campaign, but they do need to pass a minimal threshold. For instance, if a consumer looks at an ad for less than one second, that is long enough to subconsciously register that the stimuli is an ad and decide to skip without recalling the brand and message (because of too many messages).

while throughout evolution our brains have been programmed to minimize energy consumption.

How ad attention impacts effectiveness

The low correlation between surveys and ad impact must not come as a surprise. We show an ad for around 7-10 seconds, and then ask respondents them to fill out a survey lasting up to 20 minutes, thus completely relying on System 2 (verbal and conscious), while in contrast, we are aware that most purchase decisions are made subconsciously and in a split second. What is also interesting to consider, is how long people actually look at ads:

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An integrated framework for successful evaluation of ad effectiveness

In a case study undertaken with >1500 respondents, predicting the viral potential of +52 online videos (complete study), facial coding was 2x better in predicting viral potential than any combination of survey questions. In another study that examined effective (the ones that achieved an uplift in sales) and non-effective ads, the findings showed that surveys could select the correct ad 65% of the time. This is slightly better than, for instance, flipping a coin. On the other hand, facial coding, eye tracking, and virtual shopping managed to single out effective ads in about +70% of cases. However, all the methods combined gave the best results; the combination selected effective ads in 85% of cases.

On the previously presented theoretical grounds and empirical research, EyeSee has developed a straightforward framework for a deep analysis of ad impact:

S

ee it

l

ike it buy it

Eye trackingDoes your ad

stand out?

Facial codingDoes your ad

evoke emotions? SurveyDoes your ad impactbrand equity?

Virtual shoppingDoes your adcause sales uplift?

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In the world of digital advertising, there are dozens of tools that help marketers measure impact. However, not all measurements are equally useful. How do you reexamine advertising testing for the digital age and its distracted, advertising-avoidant consumers? Firstly, we need to take a step back from the traditional testing routine: scrutinizing the ad creative through a focus group, displaying the standalone, full-length, full-size ad to a benevolent respondent and following it up with in-depth questions later. Why? Because this process, aside from a delayed and conscious ad assessment, entails forced exposure of the tested material to the consumer. A critical precondition to evaluating ads is checking if they manage to reach the consumer and get noticed in its natural environment to begin with.

By using natural and unforced exposure of the stimuli, in an environment as close to reality as possible, we get an objective and accurate insight into the actual ad visibility. Studies done this way are the single most useful and authentic measurement nowadays and are

Test in-context for quality insights:Real vs. simulated feedsBy Marija Smudja, Advertising Insights director at EyeSee

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becoming a standard go-to approach for brands and companies doing ad pre-testing. If you have a great ad that goes unnoticed when thrown into the highly competitive and crowded social media environment – you are wasting your money. The harsh truth is that the average consumer scrolls through their feed at a speed of around 1-3 posts per second, and the rule of thumb is an actual rule of the almighty scrolling thumb.

Forced (standalone)

AD

Unforced (environment)

AD

What type of context yields optimal results

However, it is not only a matter of testing ads in context, but also about what that context is. More precisely, is it as realistic as it can be? Which is better, testing it the way it would be perceived in real life - in the respondent’s own news feed, or in a natural, albeit simulated context?

Both approaches involve consumers being exposed to your ad in the digital clutter of images, posts, videos, and outside distractions, exactly like they do in real life. Only, depending on the particular situation and the task at hand, you can pre-test ads both by injecting the stimuli in the respondents’ actual social media feed or test them in a simulated feed.

Ad insertion is a technique by which ads are placed into the real, live feeds or webpages, ensuring that the ad will be seen in a completely natural environment for the respondent. On the other side, a simulated

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feed is entirely created and controlled by the researcher, also allowing the insertion of the ads into desired places.

Both approaches have a specific set of KPIs – they measure the visibility of the ad (viewability), time spent on the ad (attention). But is the respondents' behavior genuinely different in a simulated vs. actual feed? For the purpose of this case, we put this to the test and ran a mini-study to uncover whether there are differences, and in which direction theyare skewed.

Namely, we tested two ads for mineral water – one that promotes individuality and being in touch with nature (it opens with light colors, with a close up shot of a face), while the other one puts a focus on family spirit and a sense of community (it shows a family in the opening sequence, in a slightly darker palette). Both ads were tested in real and simulated settings. The video ad was the sixth in order in the feed.

The main take away - browsing is slightly different, but both contexts yielded the same results:

The results show that the users scroll 10% faster while logged into their personal Facebook feed. In a simulated feed, it takes them around 22s to reach the tested post, while in the own feed, it took them around 20s. This difference might be due to the fact that they are already familiar with the content of their feed, so they automatically skip/skim through the posts of certain people/groups/concerning some topics.

Consequently, the visibility of the ad in a personal feed is slightly higher, but the time spent on the ad is lower. In a simulated timeline, respondents spend more time exploring the posts, because of a novelty effect - all of the posts and the ads are unfamiliar.

Nonetheless, both ways of measuring provided the same insight – the ad that promotes individuality and contact with nature performs better in both the personal and simulated feeds – a 10% higher visibility, and 0.5s longer attention.

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same insights

Ad in a simulated feed

VSAD

Ad inserted in the respondent’s feed

AD

Generic personal post

News

Advertisement

Friend’s post

News

Advertisement

Navigating the new ad-avoidant surrounding

Nowadays, there are no good reasons not to pre-test your social media ads. However, in the age of cheap and fast solutions, the quality of the testing you do is vital. Using unforced exposure to check if the respondents have the willingness to watch or interact with the ad is indispensable for identifying thumb-stopping content. An environment that mirrors real life as close as possible will safeguard your brand from misleading or overly optimistic insights, and consequently, prevent waste of marketing funds. Having in mind the increasingly busy advertising landscape, settling for less-than-convincing testing environments will become a thing of the past. Just how close to reality the conditions will get – we don’t know yet. We are still to witness the domination of one of the two methods, but so far, simulated feedsseem to be winning.

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Here’s a potential scenario – you did an extensive advertising study and found an interesting pattern in the correlation matrix:

Behavioral KPIs (Visibility, Attention, and Emotional reach) are correlated among themselvesSurvey questions (Recall, Likability, Brand fit and Social media fit) are also correlatedBUT behavioral KPIs and survey questions do not correlate as much!

What does this discrepancy mean – how do you make sense of it?

Let’s get back to the basics first.

In statistics, correlation is any type of relationship between two variables. A positive correlation means that if one variable goes up, the other variable goes up, too – a negative correlation would have two variables go in the opposite directions.

Why contradicting behavioral andtraditional KPIs can be good for researchBy Olivier Tilleuil, EyeSee’s founder and CEO

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A strong correlation in your behavioral KPIs for a single ad means that if many people noticed your ad, it was more likely to have high attention and emotional reach as well. On the other hand, your ad might perform well in a survey that measures the conscious attitudes of the respondents – they really liked the ad, found it to fit the brand, and could remember which brand it belongs to afterward.

But when you compare the behavioral and conscious KPIs, you find that their correlation is low – if an ad did great on the subconscious variables, it doesn’t mean it would perform well on the survey,and vice versa.

There are three possible conclusions about this:

Either that surveys are not relevantOr that behavioral research is not relevantOR that both are valid, complement each other, and significantly increase the predictive power.

Conventional and behavioral methods can have conflicting results

If behavioral and conventional methods have a low correlation, from a statistical point of view, this means that they measure different things; and sometimes (not always), they can have conflicting results.

Behavioral KPIs show the actual measurement of how the ad is perceived in the appropriate context. It relies on the underlying mechanisms of our perception, that have a different set of prompts and cues that help us notice things. That’s why ads need to attract attention and get seen first, even to have a chance of relaying a message to its intended audience.

A survey, on the other hand, lets respondents take their time, evaluate the ad consciously, giving us an account of the ad’s strong and weak points, and its potential IF the ad is noticed.

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Uncorrelated data is actually useful - it provides a complete picture

What do we mean by saying that both sets of KPIs are relevant? They are useful for the ultimate goal of all research – predicting effectiveness.

If you are conducting research and all variables in a group are 100% correlated, that means you only need to have 1 point of data to predict all of the others – essentially, that all the different variables you are testing do not add value.

To understand and predict what will happen, having uncorrelated variables like this is a blessing in disguise. The complementing measurements will paint a more complete picture in your study, and bring about better predictive value (or a higher R2) – assuming that both variables are important.

For example, if your survey results show that the likeability for the tested ad is high, then the correlated variables (e.g., brand fit, channel fit) might get you an accurate and nuanced opinion about the ad, but each new question will not change the conclusion about which ad is the best – they will all score similarly high. Instead, if you introduce an entirely new uncorrelated dimension, e.g., is your ad seen in the social media environment, you get a much more valuable info that might influence your decision – because if your ad is not seen, it will not create an impact. You need to have both high likeability and high visibilityto do that.

Too complex to explain to internal stakeholders – so let’s just skip it?

Doing this would be extremely wrong. Many studies show that combining behavioral and conventional measurements increases predictive power by at least 40%. Not measuring the behavioral side is the same as ignoring essential data. Not obtaining the data does not change that fact – and it will arguably be worse, as you do not know just how bad the stimuli might perform on that particular KPI.

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To summarize: behavioral and conscious variables are correlated within each group, but they don’t necessarily correlate with each other. They measure different variables that complement each other and provide a big picture of your ad or product, thus enabling you to predict its effectiveness much better.

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The cornerstones of Lean – validated learning, the Build-Measure-Learn principle, and MVPs are necessary and useful new additions to the CPG market research vocabulary.

Leaning into change

Ready or not, the CPG industry is bound to be disrupted by the flood of changes and trends brought on by millennial shoppers, healthy lifestyle trends, concern for the environment, smaller and local competition, and many others. Ironically, huge companies will need to be able to operate in an entrepreneurial environment where nothing is certain due tofast changes.

One of the best theories about how to deal with this type of environment is the Lean startup principle. According to this movement, a competitive advantage is gained by the speed (and cost) of your learning (or

How to make CPG marketresearch lean(er)

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https://hbr.org/2013/05/why-the-lean-start-up-changes-everything

validation of hypotheses). This is best done by going through multiple Build - Measure (Validate) - Learn cycles. In contrast to it, traditional market research in CPG flows in the opposite direction: Learn - Measure (Validate) - Build. Thanks to the decreased costs and increased speed of MR, we can rethink how we conduct research, and spin the circle in the opposite direction by using more agile tactics.

What is the essence of the lean approach?

According to HBR, “It’s a methodology called the “lean start-up,” and it favors experimentation over elaborate planning, customer feedback over intuition, and iterative design over traditional “big design up front” development.” One of its cornerstones in the Build – Measure – Learn principle.

Build

To be able to go through the cycle quickly, rather than having the product 100% finished before validating, companies define Minimal Viable Products – products with only the minimum of necessary features required to sell it. Building MVPs saves time (as the last 20% of

measurebuild

learn

25

development often requires 80% of the time spent in discussions) and prevents mislearning, as the ultimate learning for the lean startup is the real-life validation. Oftentimes in research, studies are delayed because the stimuli are not yet ready, while instead, we should ask ourselves whether they are good enough to test the hypotheses we have.

Validate

Lean research is about validating earlier. In the old paradigm, before a new product is validated, it goes through months of other research, and when the time comes to evaluate it, both you and the research agency are scared to make almost any changes or give recommendations aside from proceeding with the launch – because additional comments delay the launch and slow down the process even more. So how do we bring validation in sooner in the process and improve the product (through iterative testing) so that we can kill it much earlier? Validation is also about the key hypotheses more than the final designs. But the current tested version just needs to be good enough to collect the data. You might not get the complete coloring 100% correct, but at least it is not an abstract description of a product.

Based on validation testing, you learn how to develop a better product. It is not necessarily done to make a yes/no decision.

Learn

Based on the obtained data, you learn and improve the product/design. After every cycle, you have new info to make the product better in the next iteration, but in the meantime, you know whether your product will work or not. With a conventional research process, this is often done only at the end of the process.

Insights/market research can help with building a learning environment, but it will need to adapt by doing the following:

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https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/unilever-were-not-used-start-up-mentality/1330839?src_site=marketingmagazinehttps://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/unilever-were-not-used-start-up-mentality/1330839?src_site=marketingmagazine

Abandon 6-24 month learning cycles and switch to multiple rounds of learning cyclesFocus on whether it works or not (validate), and not necessarily on why it works (pragmatism)Shift from surveys to measuring behavior in a real environment (or at least as close as possible)

Reiterations

In order to learn faster, it is better to develop an iterative pretesting system to test sooner instead of at the end of the process. Don’t get stuck on developing or arguing about the perfect product before checking with the consumers if they like it. It is challenging to know what clients really want, so developing a minimal viable product and learning from it is better than arguing about the final features. In the words of Unilever’s global media director Alper Eroglu, “[..] start-up mentality is about reiterations. You launch something, and then you improve it.“ He adds further that “ [..] at Unilever, this is difficult because we aren’t used to this mentality. For us, everything needs to be proved to the last point.” Making sure that the idea or a product is tested all the way through and proven to be loved by the potential consumers is tying your hands when it comes to facing fierce competitors.

Virtual test lab

Combining both speed and in-market testing is difficult. You need to manufacture the products, convince retailers, obtain a large enough sample, and make sure that external factors don’t influence your data. One solution is virtual shopping, as it has a 0.8 correlation with real shopping behavior. With virtual shopping, we can build a learning environment and test critical scenarios such as

Will my product with recyclable packaging increase sales?Is the competitor taking market shares from me?Is this the right direction to develop in – does it have potential in the current market?

1)

2)

3)

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https://eyesee-research.com/how-insights-create-marketing-expertise/

Market research, in its essence, is about learning how to listen to your consumers and ask the right questions. Lean market research can employ the build-measure-learn loop to go beyond turning ideas into products – its most beneficial outcome is the learning, and the quicker the learning happens, the better the results. Going through this loop as fast as possible enables fresh input for your process – and every part of the circuit should be designed to accelerate feedback.

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From Zero to HeroHow to set up studies

E-commerce is growing at an unprecedented rate all over the world and giving rise to new opportunities for brands to be competitive. Market research in the online domain is still in its early stages, with brands often opting for a much wider variety of research questions and a lack of focus in comparison to brick-and-mortar studies. Although all research questions are legitimate, clients tend to fall into the trap of wanting to test everything; from strategic to tactical, online path to purchase to specific content, and other. The result of which is too broad, only scratching the surface on many KPIs, with very littleactual impact.

So, how should you approach structuring the questions for more effective research? In general, we find there are 3 levels of studies:

Level 1 – online shopper strategy including motivations and full journeys (who visited which sites, and why)Level 2 – online shopper behavior for specific website: how do

From Zero to Hero:Understand behaviorale-commerce testing

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shoppers navigate the site; which pages are visited; and what are key shopper marketing assetsLevel 3 – Tactical impact studies for optimized shopper marketing assets (that apply for most websites): what are the best practices for the shopper marketing assets (e.g. online package design) to maximize the impact on purchase decisions

Typically, the 3 levels demand a different research methodology framework. Surveys will suffice for Level 1 (online shopper strategy), while for Level 2 and Level 3 (shoppers’ behavior on a specific website and tactical impact studies), a combination with behavioral methods is required. Furthermore, the Level 3 study requires a design experiment (e.g., A/B/C test of package design or ads) to understand the impact on sales uplift.

Level 1: Testing online path-to-purchase and strategy

The key questions for online path-to-purchase studies boil down to who buys online, and why? Which websites did they visit? Which phases in

Who,where

and why

amazon.comtarget.comkroger.com

walmart.com

Online shopping strategyWho buys online?Which websites do they visit?Why?

Tactical impact studies for optimizedshopper marketing assets

Best practices for certain areasE.g. hero pack images increase visibilityby 5% and purchase intent by 15%

Specific websites behavior of online shoppersNavigation/search/filterProduct List Page (PLP)Product Detail Page (PDP)Check outAds

PDP Onlinepack

Ads Adlocation

Reviews Checkout

Importance of each element

level 1

level 2

level 3

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the shopping journey did they go through? Where do they eventually purchase, and for which reasons? Within this level, it is also possible to explore who is close to buying and what would convert them.

To dig deeper into the research questions, here’s a breakdown for an example product:

Profile: Who buysproduct X online?• Age, gender,

income...• Social & technological (h or PC/day)• How are they different from offline?

The online shopper

Find thecorrect target

Convert new buyers

Informcorrectly

Win more againstcompetiton (Retailer)

Grow the category & winagainst competition

Pre purchase /info gathering(1st party websitesand ecomm.)

The online store The category listand product page

Why does he/she buy online and offline?When do they shop online? When offline?What are the reasonsfor visit?What are purchase triggers and barriers?

Which websitesdo they visit? Why? Which infoare they looking for?

How do theyselect the shop?Why do they choosestore x?How important is.com vs Prime vs. Subscribe and save?

What are thebarriers for online purchase? Whatinfo do they use to buy the product? What are thekey factors of consideration?

Is your online target different fromyour offline target?

Which products dothey buy online/offline?When was the first timeto buy online?In which stage is the“normal” buyer?(Awareness,consideration, tried,...)

Which pages willthey visit?What are thesearch words?

Which shops do theyuse to buy products?How do they shop?(list use, planned...)

Do they switch products?How many times do they buy your products? Didthey buy yourproducts before?

Segments

Preferences

Shoppinghabits

Convert new buyers Convert new buyers

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Level 2: Testing online shopping behavior

The key question is how shoppers shop on specific online retailers and what are the opportunities to influence their purchase decision. Moreover, which pages do they visit, how do they interact with them, and what is essential in facilitating a purchase decision? Typically, shoppers are not good at recalling their behavior – therefore, to obtain good data, their behavior needs to be measured (clicks, navigation, gaze…)in context.

Most frequently, we test on the most relevant online shops (Amazon, Walmart, and Target) but also, specialized ones: for pet food producers – Chewy; for electronics and tech – Best Buy, etc. We mainly focus on 4 areas: website navigation (search/navigation/filters), product list page, product detail page, and ads. Optionally, the check out as well.

Here is what you should explore to get the most out of online sales:

Planned purchase:Can shoppers find your

product? And how?

1

Product list:Is your product noticed

and how to growthe category?

2

Product/promo page:Are shoppers noticingyour key messages?

3

Ads/promo:Where to publish

your ad? Which ad?

4

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https://eyesee-research.com/test-in-context-for-quality-insights-real-vs-simulated-feeds/https://eyesee-research.com/test-in-context-for-quality-insights-real-vs-simulated-feeds/

https://eyesee-research.com/why-contradicting-behavioral-and-traditional-kpis-can-be-good-for-research/https://eyesee-research.com/why-contradicting-behavioral-and-traditional-kpis-can-be-good-for-research/

https://eyesee-research.com/leverage-ads-in-online-shopping-amazon-fresh-behavioral-study/https://eyesee-research.com/case-study-does-packaging-design-need-a-hero/

Level 3: Tactical impact studies for optimized shopper marketing assets

The key goal is to maximize the impact of crucial shopper marketing assets such as online package designs, PLPs, and PDPs. We know that getting your product image and the PDP right is vital for conversion. Once you have that under control and leverage it as much as you can, then start testing ways to increase the traffic to your category online.

So, what’s the best way to approache-commerce testing?

Firstly, pick the level of your study: online strategy, shopper behavior, or tactical impact studies. There are two ways to approach this: top-bottom (strategy to tactical) or bottom-up (making sure your ads, product image, and PDP work first).

Although it might sound logical to follow a top-down strategy, the bottom-up approach might be the best: you will have quick wins that demonstrate impact to your stakeholders, and these studies are the easiest. Certain marketing assets are essential on all sites (e.g., online package design), so you don’t need to have the info of higher-level studies. Investing this way will ensure you get results faster and provide you with leverage to dig even deeper into strategic questions.

Secondly, depending on the research level you pick, combine the right conventional and behavioral methods. The complementary mixed-method approach will provide you with 30% higher predictive insights and an understanding of the full picture.

Lastly, pick an appropriate specific retail website to test on and make sure to test in context. Being able to expose respondents to testing environments that are visually and functionally the closest to the actual retail website ensures a higher correlation with real purchase behavior.

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Now that you know more about different levels of e-commerce testing, let’s focus on hero images. The desire for convenience, a shift in consumer tastes and preferences as well as in price/quality considerations, have all bolstered the demand for online grocery shopping. Studies have shown that optimized package images can have a huge impact on product stand out and conversion. But how do you start testing online package images?

Read 5 tips from our Insights Director, and more info about how many design variations to test (and types), in which context, which framework to use to evaluate and methods, and how to set up the research.

1. You only have 1-1.5s of the consumer’s attention to communicate key information on the PLP

Online grocery buyers spend typically between 15s and 20s per product

From Zero to Hero:Understand online pack shotbehavioral testing

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https://eyesee-research.com/case-study-does-packaging-design-need-a-hero/

list page (PLP), seeing on average 8-12 products and browsing the products only up to 1.5s. Having this in mind, you need to help customers differentiate between the key elements of the pack shot in order to minimize mistakes and increase sales. Our study has shown that Hero Images have a 5% higher visibility than Standard Package Designs on desktop (with an even greater potential on mobile, because of the smaller screen size) and can increase sales by about 15%. Further, Hero Image designs perform better in comparison to standard pack shots across most categories regarding visibility, shoppers’ interest, product types.

2. Choose key information and attributes and test at least 2 design directions

EyeSee studies have shown that when searching for a particular SKU, up to 70% of shoppers pick the wrong one because they are overwhelmed with elements and options. While some product attributes are quite easy to grasp on the page (e.g. brand), some are more difficult. Anyone who has ever tried to differentiate a 250ml from a 400ml bottle of shampoo, solely based on their identical online pack shots, would know it is nearly impossible. Due to the size of the package shot on the PLP, an image can only communicate 1-2 messages next to the obvious brand cues. It is key to understand what really matters.

Hero image impact:

5%increased visibility

15%increase in purchase

87%increase in brand equity36

There are multiple design routes for optimizing online package shots. Unilever and the University of Cambridge developed a variant that helps to recognize four key elements (brand, variant, format, and size). On the other hand, you have variants that put more emphasis on the emotional elements of the product (e.g. Spotlight hero image).

3. Testing in real-life context matters

Online platforms are dynamic environments, so testing needs to be done in a dynamic context – or at least as close as possible to it (scrollable, appropriate screen size, clicks…).

If possible, test at least two websites considering that there are different rules for their structure that affect the layout (due to a different number of columns, picture sizes can vary greatly between retailers). In case you are wondering whether to test mobile, desktop or both, primarily go with

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Standard packshot Cambridge Hero image Spotlight Hero image

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the channel through which your category is purchased the most. If that happens to desktop, do include a mobile device test in a segment of the study to make your site future-proof.

4. Use visibility, findability and purchase interest to judge the effectiveness of the pack-shot

Studies show that up to 95% of purchase decisions are made subconsciously. Therefore, asking your shoppers to verbalize what they are not even aware of during a survey, will not get you far in understanding what triggers their purchase. A combination of conscious and subconscious measurements is strongly recommended when conducting studies like this.

Key factors and KPIs for evaluating online package performanceshould be:

Stand out: Is the package seen? Does it hold attention long enough?Brand/product consistency: Is the product recognized?Package engagement: Does it increase interest?Sales uplift: Will it increase sales?

These variables are best measured with multiple methods. Eye tracking will provide you with insights about package stand out, response time measurement about the information processing and recognition, surveys about package engagement, and online virtual shopping with sales uplift. Here’s an overview of the KPIs and the most revealing methods:

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The research project is typically a validation study, so a quantitative behavioral set up is recommended.

5. Research setup: Use a monadic approach for each design direction (but test multiple SKUs)

So how do you approach testing? Category shoppers are recruited remotely via a panel company. The respondents are exposed to a Product list page where 5 SKUs are replaced with 1 of the new design routes. Having multiple images of the same design route in 1 PLP is also favorable. This will be most representative of the future environment, after the implementation, when multiple SKUs with the new design route would find themselves on the same PLP. Here’s a handy illustration of the research setup we recommend:

Eye tracking

Buy it

Like it

See it Package (& keyarea) stand-out

Brandconsistency

Packengagement

Sales Uplift

Virtual shopping

RTM Survey

KPI 1: Visibility on the shelfKPI 2: Visibility of pack’s key AOIsKPI 3: Findability of the SKU (CT)

KPI 4: Brand memorabilityKPI 5: Brand recognitionKPI 6: Brand fit

KPI 7: LikabilityKPI 8: Association and attributesKPI 9: Pack claims/benefits

KPI 10: Share of shoppersKPI 11: Value share

KPI set for Pack Evaluation

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Conclusion

The truth is, the e-commerce grocery service is still new to online pack shots –i.e. their positioning, benefits, and challenges. Most of what we know about pain points and pack shots, through decades of research in physical stores, does not necessarily apply to the digital world. Therefore, it is crucial to assess and use behavioral insights to tap into real insight – so always test new designs, and assume nothing.

Having studied thousands of e-commerce pack shots, our advice to all those looking to improve their online product images would be – less is more. Remember, the average shopper spends only 1.5s on your product! Test the packages in context for the most authentic results.

cell 1 - new design 1 cell 2 - new design 2 cell 3 - new design 3 control cell - old design

1 3 4

Respondents are asked to click on the products they would consider buying

Next, they need to find a specific SKU

Optional: exposure to PDP page, or a standalone image

Finally, they complete an RTM exercise and a survey

2

Sample:Half of the sample are product buyers (past 6 months), the other half are potential buyers(would consider buying)

Monadic design:Each cell is exposed to one design direction

Sequential design: Multiple images in the same design route

Methods:Eye tracking (sample size 50 per cell), Click tracking, RTM, Survey (sample size 150 per cell)40

Make it as visual as possible, prioritize and set goals, and do not try to cram every bit of product info in that tiny default space in the PLP. The rules of the digital jungle are cutthroat - either you make it easy for shoppers to pull the right purchase trigger, or they will easily scroll down past your product.

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From Zero to Hero:Understand behavioral social mediaad testing

Online advertising is thriving – in 2017, digital spending first took over TV ads, and since then the gap between them has only widened. Social media has a lot of potential for advertisers as their ads are shown in between emotionally engaging content and the targeting is much more precise. Nonetheless, a lot of companies do not reap all the benefits digital advertising has to offer because they fail to optimize their adsand creatives for social media.

The context in which ads are seen on TV vs. on social media is completely different. TV ads can be “forced” on the watcher, while on social media the attention needs to be earned as consumers can scroll on or skip the ad… This fact has a lot of implications; unoptimized TV ads cannot be used online as the attention given to social media ads is 3 seconds on average. You need to communicate with and engage your audience in only 3-6 seconds. Additionally, the ads are typically much smaller in size, so your brand elements need to be much larger in the ad in order to be noticed. Social media requires not only a completely different creative, but a completely different way to test their effectiveness as well.

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We believe that there are 3 fundamental social media ad tests rules that shouldn’t be violated:

Context is king for testing – measure your ads in the correct context (not in full screen)Attention is scarce, so understand for how long your ad is seen – 1s or 6s is a huge differenceIt’s advertising, so emotions are key

1) Context is king for testing: environment vs stand-alone

Social media is different from TV in many ways. One of the key elements of social media advertising is that consumers are not “imposed” with the ad, but can choose themselves for how long they will look at the ad. The scrolling experience is extremely important as it will help to understand whether the consumer is hooked by your ad in a split second as it’s moving in front of their eyes. Using fixed exposure or flashing an ad (or showing a video of someone browsing through social media) will not capture this momentary reaction which is a key factor in the research.

standalone

AD

environment

AD 43

Testing an ad in a real or simulated timeline with free browsing and preferably, all the interactive features (zoom in, sound…) enabled shouldn’t be violated.

2) Attention is scarce, so measure it

Online, the consumers get to choose whether they watch your ad or competing content – meaning, you need to EARN their attention. Given the content overload, they only spend between 1-3 seconds watching an ad – and if you are one of the lucky few, perhaps a few seconds more. But the difference between your ad being seen for 1 or 3 seconds is huge. It takes watchers less than 1 second to discard the ad as irrelevant content without storing any info about it. On the other hand, if they stay with you for 3 seconds, you can communicate 2-3 x more messages.3 seconds are long enough to show a key visual + your brand, and perhaps squeeze in another message.

1-3s

AD

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When speaking about such short timespans, understanding precisely where the attention of the viewer is focused on an ad is key. The cleanest and easiest method for doing this is using eye tracking, and we strongly recommend using it. On mobile (where eye tracking is really not possible) we might go for measuring the on-screen time of the ad as a proxy since there is limited other content on a small screen.

3) It’s advertising, so in most cases emotions are key

You might debate whether the functional or emotional messages are more important when presenting your product but, in the end, most ads go for emotionally engaging messages. Emotions are key because if people don’t feel good about a product, they will probably not buy it. Once you know that you’ve earned their attention, it is important to understand whether the ad resonated with them and evoked emotions in the consumer. When it comes to emotions, since we need to measure them during the scrolling experience, you have only a handful of methods available. Our preferred is facial coding, as it measures

AD

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emotional reactions in real time and on a second-by-second basis. Most of the other research methods have difficulty measuring this granularity and you need to have people exposed to the ad for a longer stretch of time, which would, in turn, violate (1) the context again and yield unprecise results.

Additionally, there are two things we recommend having in mind for social media testing:

Include Survey and RTM for more comprehensive resultsChoose wisely between the respondent’s timeline and asimulated timeline

4) Surveys and RTM knit implicit andexplicit insights together

AD

CLEAR

yes no

Hard totell

02s

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Aside from eye tracking and facial coding which lead the way in this type of research, including a traditional survey combined with an RTM test makes your study even more comprehensive and build the full picture. This way, you can understand the potential risks of the ad (e.g. does it communicate the desired message well). We would recommend using reaction time measurement as well, in order to check whether your messages/desired feelings are communicated within the first 1-3 seconds of the ad. According to Robert Heath’s “Low Involvement Processing” theory, we do not draw explicit verbal conclusions, we process and store data through implicit associations – often without even realizing it. Awareness (and even more, top of mind awareness) is likely to be an offshoot of strong implicit associations. This would explain why some brilliant advertising campaigns scored low on tests that are using methodologies based on articulation and statements.

5) Using the respondents’ timeline or a simulated timeline - what to do?

Depending on the particular situation and the task at hand, we can test ads both by injecting the stimuli in the respondents’ actual social media timeline or we test them in a simulated timeline. In some instances, the respondents might perceive logging into their own accounts as risky –

simulated timeline

VS

AD

respondent’s timeline

AD

General news

HBO trailer

Advertisement

Friend’s post

HBO trailer

Advertisement

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which is not the case. Believing these statements will make the respondents feel uneasy about the study and will impact the collected data. This is why we strongly prefer testing in a simulated timeline with controlled conditions, which enables us to test even more variables and easily compare sales uplifts afterward.

Social media ads have already completely changed the advertising landscape and offer plentiful opportunities for previously unimaginable experimentation. You should leave no blind spots when it comes to the impact of your social media ads or other online content – in order to thoroughly understand it, we believe testing should be conducted in a real environment, with measuring their attention and emotional connection, including RTM tasks in your survey. Doing this will ensure the most precise results possible and the biggest impact of yourdigital advertising.

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Behavioral case studies

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Breaking the #SocialMedia clutter:Which ads make an impact?

Do consumers notice your ads while scrolling through their social media feeds? How do thumbnails, colors, and sounds impact your ads? Does your industry affect ad performance?

EyeSee’s team of researchers tested 36 dynamic ads from 6 different industries (Food, Beverage, Cosmetics, Banking&Telco, Services, and Technology) on over 2000 respondents. Each of the ads was tested both in context (Facebook feed) and in standalone mode using eye-tracking, facial coding, and survey, to try and uncover best practices, rules, and tips for brands. Try out some of these tips, and if you want to make sure they work – pre-test them.

We found that not all social media ads are equally successful. Discover why the top-performing ads:

hold attention for 6 seconds longer,have a 16% higher emotional reach,and a 50% higher stated purchase intent.

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Here are some of the study findings:

Seeing doesn’t equal watching

Our study shows that Facebook ads, on average, have an 87% chance to be seen. However, there’s a caveat – you can have high visibility, but low attention; meaning people are just scrolling through the feed, and notice the ad without stopping to read/view it.

The advertisements in this study were watched for 4.1 seconds on average. When it comes to attention, the results contain clear advice: you only have 4 seconds to make an impact and relay the desired mes-sage to the viewers! The top 15% of ads in our study had attention for 6.3 seconds, while the bottom 15% – only 2.5 seconds.

Facebook ads are emotionally engaging 3% of users (on average): how do you get yours in this group?

Ads on a Facebook feed typically have little or no emotional impact. Average emotional engagement was 3%, meaning that on average, 3% of viewers reacted to the particular ad with positive or negative emotion – most watchers remain neutral to the content. Additionally, 56% of ads had some kind of emotional engagement, while 44% had none.

This stat varies depending on the ad industry – unsurprisingly, the food and beverage ads garnered more interest than the other industries. The services industry has the same emotional engagement as the two, but a different emotion – surprise, instead of heightened interest.

So, what works?

Showing people or showing your product (if you have one) in the thumbnail is likely to elevate the emotional reach.

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Showing the product in the thumbnail boosts the probability of your message being received by up to 20%. For food and beverage: show your product being consumed instead of only the package shot.

Ads that have light colors in their thumbnail (first scene) will draw attention to your ad. They had the highest visibility, and emotional reach was higher for ads that used more intense colors (light or dark) than those that used colors with medium intensity.

Gifs provide better message recall since they are seen multiple times and last shorter than the video, but there’s a downside – they are more likely to be found as boring or irritating because theyare repetitive.

Videos have a better impact on brand perception, are more persuasive, and ensure better brand differentiation. Depending on the purpose of your campaign, you should choose one or the other.

Ads with music are more likely to be rated as entertaining and pleasant to watch, however, music can draw attention away from the ad message (by up to 10%, compared to ads without music).

The industry of the advertiser affects ad attention. Ads from the Food industry got the most attention, while those from Banking, Telco, and Services got the least amount of attention.

The industry of the brand also impacts perceived clarity. Ads from Food and Beverage industries were regarded as the clearest.

In case there is no product to show, you can show your brand logo on the thumbnail or in the first few seconds, especially if your brand is well known and likable. To make a stronger impact, make sure your brand logo is visible.

Lowest-performing ads are too long for social media. All of the lowest-performing ads were too long, had lower attention, almost twice lower brand recall, and consequently, triggerednegative emotions.

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The verdict

There is no magic recipe for creating the perfect Facebook ad, but pre-testing ads is the way to go for ensuring you make it in the social media advertising arena. Some things, however, have proven effective – here are the key takeaways, but request our podcast for a more detailed report on the insights!

The product itself is the king! Show the product in the thumbnail for higher ad clarity and more credible ads.

If you want to evoke emotions – opt for video and go big – but always adjust the length of the video for social media! Use music, intense colors; show the brand name/logo in high contrast with the back-ground, positioned centrally.

The industry the brand is coming from will dictate the type of effort companies need to apply for success in a busy social media setting – communicate the experience that the product brings in the first 4s.

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Breaking the #SocialMedia clutter:Do some industries have it harder?

We recently ran a comprehensive Facebook advertising study among six different industries: Food, Beverage, Cosmetics, Banking&Telco, Travel services, and Technology. We tapped into the differences and specifics of each industry we tested.

KPI

Beverage

Visibility (%)Attention(s)

Emotional reach (%)Dominant emotion

Recall (%)Likeability (T2B%)

Brand fit (T2B%)Facebook fit (’yes’%)

84%3.9 3.9 3.9

2% 2%2%

19%56%

56%67%XX

% B

est

XX%

Wor

st

FoodTechTravelservicesCosmeticsBanking &

Telco

87% 85% 86% 88%4.0 4.1

4% 4%nonenone surprised none interested interested

24% 23%26%62% 65% 62%

67% 71% 72%67%78% 82% 78% 74%

91%5.1

5%

28% 28%67% 67%

75%79%

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A bigger challenge for some industries

All ads are competing in the same space, but this might be more challenging for some industries than for others. The principal difference we observed lies among the Food and Beverage industries on one side and the Services industries on the other (Services in the broader sense include Banking, Telecommunications, and various travel services).Ads from the Food industry got the most attention (5s), while those from Banking, Telco, and Travel Services got the least amount of attention (3.8s). This kind of discrepancy is logical, as food and beverages are predisposed to attract attention from abiological perspective.

Have you made your ads clear?

There were also some variations in the perceived clarity: ads from Food and Beverage industries were marked as the clearest, while ads from Services were less clear. As we mentioned in our podcast, showing the product front and center, right off the start, will make the ad more straightforward. However, companies that offer services don’t have the luxury of being that literal. So, instead of showing the product, they can show the brand or logo in the video thumbnail, or the first few seconds – especially if the brand is well known and likable.

Attention

3.8s 5s

FoodServices

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Drive impact with your logo and product

To make an even stronger impact, make sure your brand logo is visible – for example, that it is contrasted against the background and positioned centrally on the screen. The brand itself affects perception significantly – so while these tips are universal, if we are talking about a love brand, some rules might be broken, and still yield great results.

One good example from our study is an ad from the food industry: it displayed a product shot in the first second of the ad, which resulted in maximum visibility and above-average recall. This turns upside-down the traditional TVC narrative with a product shot in the last scene, and is a perfect example of creative content created with social media in mind. The ad is short, simple, yet clear and direct. Conclusion for the Food industry: you have a great product – show it!

Although it may be more challenging for ads from the Service industry to make their way through the social media jungle, there are some bright examples. In another ad we tested, the first scene is depicting people, the brand logo is present, and in clear contrast with the background. This scene is emotionally engaging, with two people talking and a motivational message. Our recommendation for that particular example would be to position the logo centrally, as it would yield even better visibility and ad recall.

Show the product or Show the brand name

ADAD

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A further dive into industry differences:

For example, in the tech industry, manufacturers have a better emotional impact than e-commerce retailers selling tech. On the other hand, retailers have better recall, and manufacturers win on likability, brand fit, and Facebook fit (+4%). Again, this type of divide is quite logical – manufacturers strive to build a brand relationship, while retailers aim for broader awareness, and their results support this.

When it comes to traveling, we compared traditional hotels vs. digital booking services. Ads for regular traveling services are seen as more ordinary; however, they are stronger on brand opinion and emotional reach – which is expected because they are established brands. Digital traveling services are playing on innovativeness, memorability, and impact, while traditional services are investing in building an emotional connection with the consumers.

In the beverage industry, ads for non-alcoholic beverages have better overall performance than those for alcoholic beverages. Non-alcoholic beverage ads were more emotionally engaging (by 2%), have better recall (+21%), better brand opinion (+22%), and higher stated purchase intent (+24%). The tested alcoholic beverage ads scored lower on brand differentiation, were less entertaining and informative, and did not containing novelty. The tested ads for non-alcoholic brands came from established brands, with a visible product and message right at the beginning, which probably affected ad recall and purchase intent.

In essence, the industry of the brand will prescribe the communication strategy that will be effective in a cluttered social media feed.

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https://www.emarketer.com/content/global-digital-ad-spending-2019https://www.emarketer.com/content/global-digital-ad-spending-2019

Leverage ads in #OnlineShopping:Amazon Fresh behavioral study

In 2019, worldwide digital ad spending will rise by 17.6% to $333.25 billion, making it half of the global ad market.

Still, a large portion of ad performance on e-commerce sites is uncharted territory. Therefore, EyeSee’s team conducted a behavioral study to understand the impact of ads on product list pages on purchase decisions and browsing patterns. Only a small fraction of people end up clicking on the ad itself (2%), so is it worth placing an advertisement on PLP pages? Are the ads actually seen or is there banner blindness? What is the impact of the position of the ad?

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We tested 4 different categories (Cereal, Chocolate, Cleaning products, and Coffee) on Amazon Fresh. 520 respondents were recruited and completed a test remotely using eye tracking and virtual shopping. We had 2 cells of respondents, with exactly the same testing protocol with one difference: One cell of respondents was exposed to PLPs with ads, the other without. Two of the categories had ads on top, two on the side. Two of the categories had the advertised SKUs included on the list, the other two had some other SKU of the advertised brand included.

1. Ads do make a difference in purchase interest but not necessarily how you’d expect

Only a few people end up clicking on the ad itself (2%), so do not expect your revenue to increase from ad conversion. The way the ads influence the shoppers is that they subconsciously drive interest in the advertised product, which then gets purchased on its primary position i.e. the list.

with ads without ads

Cereal Chocolate Cleaning products Coffee

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However, this does not work for all products and all categories equally. An uplift in brand purchase can be as high as 40% for different categories, but as low as non-existent for others.

If found that if the SKU/product shown in the ad is also available on the list, shoppers are significantly more likely to buy it.

If the communicated SKU is not available on the list (but other representatives of the brand are) purchase interest might not be affected. The strategy of buying ads to eventually hit the first page of the online shop might not work.

2. Ad creative has a strong impact on attention time

E-marketers are aware of the importance of ad positioning by now; it can bring a five-fold increase in ad visibility! However, for ads with the same positioning, the content can make or break the game. Attention to the ad varies by a factor of 3; this can be a world of difference in the amount of information you can get across to consumers. Ads at the top of the pages were seen on average for 3.9 seconds while ads on the side positions are seen for 1.3 seconds.

Exact advertised SKU needs to be present on the product list to drive purchase

No ad Ad

Advertised brand,different SKU

Advertised SKU

31%

-3%

28%

14%

19%

+5%

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Ads work positively for product lists overall:

Lists with ads are browsed 20% longerOnline shoppers see 10% more products overallAs a result, there is a 14% increase in product purchase interest

3. Exploring e-commerce ads further

The study sparked the following questions as well:

Where in the shopper journey should you place ads? On the homepage, to increase interest, or closer to the decision point (in the category)?

Should you have ads in related categories (build a combination of compatible categories such as e.g. beer and chip)?

What works best for what goal: when to use hard selling, when to opt for emotional messaging?

Should you have more exposures of the same ad/message? What is the optimal solution to drive purchase but not to become annoying?

The truth is, testing e-commerce by using behavioral insights is highly accessible. What’s more, many e-marketers have yet to commit more resources to study the impact of ads on the constantly evolving field of e-commerce, which gives you a chance to pioneer the best practices and profit from understanding e-shopper behavior further.

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https://eyesee-research.com/everything-you-didnt-know-about-the-design-of-in-store-displays/

What makes a #POSdisplay good?

Point-of-sale displays are a diverse field that provides enormous opportunities for increasing sales (by as much as 20%) and building your brand but can also be a huge waste of money if not done right – suboptimal displays lose 25% of the sales potential.

We already know that a good POS display can boost sales in any phase of the product cycle – but what is it that makes a display good? How do you know that the money you are investing in this additional opportunity to be seen by your shoppers will be a good ROI?

Over the years, EyeSee tested and analyzed hundreds of stimuli on thousands of shoppers when it comes to POS materials. Doing this for our clients enabled us to realize what are some of the best practices when it comes to POS display design.

There are several things which matter most when it comes to displays and their effectiveness and represent the most relevant of display KPIs: In-store Visibility, Attention, Likability and Share of shoppers. These are

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tested remotely, using a combination of eye tracking, survey, and virtual shopping.

We compiled a meta-analysis from the POS studies (+50 displays from multiple industries) we did in the last 6 months and found several insights that you should keep in mind when designing a new display. We coded each display based on 7 variables:

People: With vs Without peopleFunctional benefit: Not shown vs CommunicatedProduct prominence: Center vs Side positionCopy style: Small vs Large copyCopy length: Short copy text vs Long copy textCall to action: No call to action vs With a call to actionBranding: No brand vs With embedded branding

How does POS testing work? The client delivers the stimuli and defines the objectives of the research. EyeSee programs and conducts the study – the respondents participate from their homes, and our researchers analyze the findings and deliver a full report within 2.5 weeks.

Attract Hold Like Buy

People shown

Functional benefit

Product Prominence

Copy Style

Copy Length

Call to action

Branding

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Attracting attention and making your product stand out in a crowded store environment is the first step in any display evaluation. Our research has shown that a few display features drive an increase in visibility: Including a functional benefit, large copy style but without people shown on the display.

Attract

First off, displays without people tend to show a higher impact on in-store visibility. This might sound surprising but adding people to a display might make the display too messy or cluttered.

Including a functional benefit of the product brings an increase in visibility in comparison to displays without a demonstrated benefit. Think more about highlighting the efficiency, taste or a health benefit of the product, rather than not including a benefit at all and just adding a vague tagline.

Additionally, we have found a connection between having larger copy in the design and a higher impact on visibility.

Hold

Okay, you’ve managed to grab the attention of the shopper – so how do you keep it now? For how long do they look at your display when walking around the store?

Our studies have shown that there is a significant increase in attention to the display if there are no people shown, with a clearly communicated functional benefit, and with the product positioned on the side rather then in the center. Along with that, similarly to visibility, a larger copy style, and additionally, embedded branding, all have a higher impact on the time shoppers spend looking at the display.

Like

If you want to maximize sales, you need to have both high visibility and high likability present.

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In this study, we have found no strong discriminative display features when it comes to likability. The biggest influence is the copy style. Probably because the bigger the copy is, the easier it is to read. In general, Likability is more related to overall brand perception and appeal than it is to specific display features.

Buy

Finally, we need to set out to answer one of the most important questions when it comes to POS displays – will your shoppers buy the product when they encounter it? Our meta-study shows that having your branding embedded in the design is a big driver for impacting sales at your POS display.

Limitations of the meta-study

However, it is important to have in mind the limitations of this meta-analysis. Meta-analyses are not clean experimental designs of the variables. The location of the display in the stimuli, the category, and the brand strategy can greatly affect the performance of the display. This meta-study consisted of several tests done for the same product but with individual campaign variations containing the same elements, which can also affect its results. If POS communication is important for your sales or you spend a significant budget on POS communication, it is recommended to conduct a best practice study based on +50 displays of your category (your own brand’s and your competitor’s).

To conclude, out of the displays we tested, the best performing display is 4 times more visible than the worst performing display. Accordingly, it could boost sales 7 times more efficiently than the worst performing display. If you are designing a display that needs to stand out in a crowded supermarket, we recommend taking into account all of the different variables that could be affecting its performance, exploring what are their specific advantages and disadvantages, and the potency of a given design.

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