Person looking at shoes in a store

Academic marketing and consumer research

Data-driven marketing and consumer research

Understanding the modern consumer is a continuous iteration of data gathering, testing, analyzing, and insight generation. Eye tracking brings deep consumer-behavior insights into the mix because it can measure how advertising, messaging, and packaging capture shopper attention — helping academics assess the effectiveness of, for example, store layouts, product placement, and ad content.

Why use eye tracking in academic marketing and consumer research

Data collected from eye tracking suggests how to create more successful marketing messages that capture attention and resonate with today’s consumers.

In the continuously evolving media landscape, it is also a popular research method to understand new media habits and their influence on consumer decisions.

Wearing Tobii Pro Glasses 3 looking at a phone

What eye tracking reveals

Shopping for guitars - Decision making

Decision making and cognitive processing

Fields of use: Consumer behavior research and behavioral economics

Eye tracking is applied to assess:

  • Consumer choice processes

  • Economic decisions

  • Cognitive bias

Online shopping on a laptop

Effectiveness of communication and design

Fields of use: Marketing and advertising research, package design research, and architectural design

Eye tracking is applied to assess:

  • Advertising

  • Package design

  • Web design

  • Store layout

  • Signage

Man looking at a mobile phone

Visual attention, perception, and behavior

Fields of use: Media research, ethnographic studies, shopper studies, and in research targeting issues such as communication, culture, and learning

Eye tracking is applied to assess:

  • Media channel preferences

  • Device use habits

  • Messaging and comprehension

  • Shopper behavior

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Tobii Pro Glasses 3 - IF Design award and Reddot Winner 2021

Tobii Pro Glasses 3

Designed for the real world, our third-generation wearable eye tracker allows you to conduct behavioral research in a wide range of settings.

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Tobii-Pro-Fusion

Tobii Pro Fusion

Screen-based eye tracker, capturing gaze data at speeds up to 250 Hz. This powerful research system supports from fixation to saccade-based research outside of the lab.

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Tobii Pro Lab

Tobii Pro Lab

Tobii Pro Lab, our eye tracking software supporting screen-based and wearable eye trackers. Guides the researcher through the entire research workflow.

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Tobii Pro Spectrum with gaze

Tobii Pro Spectrum

This high-performance research system captures gaze data at speeds up to 1200 Hz. A screen-based eye tracker for extensive research from fixation-based studies to micro-saccades.

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Tobii Pro Spark

Tobii Pro Spark

A powerful screen-based eye tracker, capturing gaze data at 60 Hz. With this affordable system, anyone can easily enhance their research with data that illuminates human attention and intent.

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Eye tracking and consumer research

Understanding lateral and vertical biases in consumer attention: An in-store ambulatory eye tracking study

Chen and colleagues (2021) used Tobii Pro Glasses 2 to study consumer’s attention in a grocery store. The study results indicated that shoppers pay more attention to products on their right side when crossing the aisle, and on the products positioned at the chest level, not on the eyes level, as previously believed.

PACE labels on healthy and unhealthy snack products in a laboratory shopping setting: perception, visual attention, and Product choice

Mehlhose and colleagues (2021) combined Tobii Pro Glasses 2 and Tobii Pro Lab to study consumers’ visual attention on physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) labels. The analysis of fixation behavior on different products with PACE label revealed that health-related labels attract more attention when placed on healthier products.

Twenty seconds of visual behaviour on social media gives insight into personality

Woods and colleagues (2022) used Tobii TX300 and Tobii Studio to record eye movements while browsing Facebook News Feed. The data of visual behaviors were used to predict participants’ self-reported Big Five personality traits. The information can be then used to psychologically profile social networking site users after only 20 seconds of viewing.

Enabling success

Tobii offers tailored support to address research needs throughout your journey with Tobii’s eye tracking.

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Tobii Funding support services

Tobii Funding support services help you improve your grant proposals for research that includes eye tracking in its methodology

Tobii Connect

Tobii Connect

Tobii Connect delivers product documentation, how-to guides, and answers to FAQs as well as access to software updates. Our customer care services help with any technical issues concerning Tobii products.

Tobii Academy

Tobii Academy

Tobii Academy our online learning platform, helping you ensure study success at every step of the way from study design to interpreting your eye tracking data.

Publications

Giraldo-Romero, Y.-I., Pérez-de-los-Cobos-Agüero, C., Muñoz-Leiva, F., Higueras-Castillo, E., & Liébana-Cabanillas, F. (2021). Influence of Regulatory Fit Theory on Persuasion from Google Ads: An Eye Tracking Study. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 16(5), 1165–1185.

Berčík, J., Paluchová, J., & Neomániová, K. (2021). Neurogastronomy as a Tool for Evaluating Emotions and Visual Preferences of Selected Food Served in Different Ways. Foods, 10(2), 354.

de Vries, R., Boesveldt, S., & de Vet, E. (2021). Locating calories: Does the high-calorie bias in human spatial memory influence how we navigate the modern food environment? Food Quality and Preference, 94, 104338.

Samson, L., & Buijzen, M. (2021). How media appeals depicting social eating contexts increase the appetitive motivational processing of healthy foods. Appetite, 167, 105582.

Radon, A., Brannon, D. C., & Reardon, J. (2021). Ketchup with your fries? Utilizing complementary product displays to transfer attention to a focal product. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 58, 102339.