What do we call eye-tracking?

Eye-tracking is a technology of marketing research examining the effectiveness of advertising, packaging and designs of Web sites (usability).

Eye-tracking is a kind of so-called "quality" marketing research that supposes minimized respondents' attitudes towards the object of research.

The gist of this technology is simple enough – a special instrument called Eye tracker recognizes the human pupil and record the movement and fixation of the eyes when viewing an image or Web site. The data obtained with the help of this instrument are being recorded into a database, and then the image is processed in appliance with these data and reports confirming the results of research are being complied.

Human pupil moves exclusively under the influence of reflex stimuli, that means we cannot control our sight. That is why eye tracking allows you to escape the subjective data got by traditional marketing methods - it shows the unperceived process of human perception of image.

So, eye tracking is a technology that detects what elements of your advertising, Web-site or packing a person can see exactly.

Eye tracker device

The technology of recognition of human pupil and determination of the coordinates where the sight is turned to is quite complex and is solved by the help of special instruments called Eye Trackers.

There are 2 types of Eye Trackers:

1. Desktop eye tracker

That is a special equipment containing a monitor and an infrared camera of high resolution. The camera records the pupil incessantly and determines what point of image the user is looking at.

As the result of this research we gain a data array that say when, at what part and how long the user was looking at the image.

After the test is over reports and expert opinions (Heat maps, Cloud maps, Eye path) are prepared and sent to the client.

Head-mounted eye tracking is the 2nd type of Eye Tracking tests. It is used to evaluate the effectiveness of outdoor advertising, to test the placement of products and price tags on store shelves, to assess the effectiveness of advertising in magazines and ease of a car usage.

Head-mounted eye tracker is put on a person's head and then a task is given to the respondent - to pick up certain types of goods or to drive a car along the allotted part of road or to read a magazine. While the respondent is performing the task the eye tracker records position of his eyes.

After the research is over expert opinions are based on the data recorded.

We have such an instrument in stock but it is necessary to go to the client personally for this test, because there is no opportunity to make this research with help of Internet. This type of testing is more expensive than the 1st one because it requires additional time and other types of resources.

If you need research with the help of Head-mounted eye tracker exactly - please contact us
any convenient way: e-mail - info [at] eyetracking.ws or leave a feedback

What does a client gain as the result of the testing?

After eye tracking test is over some reports are compiled by experts in the convenient form.

Let us suppose, for example, that we are testing the following image:

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After the research is over we will form the following reports:

Eye path

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The report of "Eye path" detects the sequence of sight fixations at the picture. This type of reports displays informatively the "algorithm of view" of a picture or a Web site by a respondent. The negative feature of this method is that if there are 2 or more respondents employed for the test, the report will be composed of such "spots" totally and will be not convenient for analyzing. That's why this type of report is usually formed for every respondent separately, and for group processing we use reports, which we discuss below.

Heat map

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Heat map is a group report that contains the visual mapping of sight fixation areas of one or more respondents at once.

Cloud maps

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Cloud map is a subspecies of Heat map report and the difference is that the visualization is made not with the help of color changing but the effect of translucence.

Examples of Eye Tracking tests for choosing the design of advertisement

The main problem of an advertiser is the need to choose what model of design (from several options) is best to be placed onto a billboard, to a Web-site or by centerfold.

Eye tracking answers this question easily. The main criterion for choosing the design should be this – the advertising model must convey to a customer the marketing idea contained in it. Let us consider the example.

A marketer has received two models of advertising concerning the same kind of product and he must decide which one is better to be placed as the advertisement.

At first the baby who is looking at us seems lovelier - it gives the impression of happiness and joy. However, the task of advertising is not to reassure the consumer mind, but rather the opposite – to disturb it and to convey to him information about the product.

Let's turn to the Eye Tracking test and see that during the test in this case consumers look at the baby, melt and forget about the advertisement.

In the other picture, where the child is looking at the text messages, most of consumers look at the baby and then sights slides towards the text, thus consumers do not just get the moments of pleasure looking at the kid, but also the marketing message of the advertiser is fixed subconsciously.

In this example we make an unequivocal verdict – to run the 2nd model of the advertisement, and
the Eye tracking technology helped us make this decision.

Eye Tracking or Click Maps by Google

Very often we hear such questions from our clients as why would we use Eye Tracking when we can get the same reports with the help of Google Analytics?

The reports of Eye Tracking testing (Heat Maps) look alike Click maps by Google visually but they are two quite different technologies. Each of them is a marketing tool for solving a certain class of problems, they cannot be compared as a hammer cannot be compared with a screwdriver – each of them is created to make different types of research.

Click maps allows evaluating which links a visitor of Web-site clicks on. This information is very important for producing the content of Web-site, optimization of titles and for improvement of the textual navigation of the site.

Eye tracking determines what is visually attractive in your design for a person, what he is looking at first and what areas of design are noticed by eye firstly. As is known, a site visitor is looking through a Web-site during 3-5 seconds. Everything what is not seen during this period is out of the person's mind.

Eye tracking allows you to "look" at your design with the eyes of your visitors. So Click maps define the best links from all seen by a consumer, and Eye Tracking helps to know what exactly the consumer has seen on the site.

We recommend using Eye Tracking and Click Maps together - so you can solve a wide range of tasks.

How you can order a research

It is so easily to order a test on our Desktop Eye Tracker – you can add your image or Url of your Web-site to the main page of our site http://www.eyetracking.ws and press the button "Start test". After that you get to know the exact cost of testing and can proceed to the payment.

After we get your payment within 4 working days we will perpetrate the research and its results will be sent to your e-mail address.

For blog-holders we offer a discount up to 50% off for the testing (promo code) in exchange for placement of an article about our service.

You can always contact us concerning the question of holding non-standard testing or research onsite. Please, feel free to contact us.