Emotional Engagement and Brand Perception

Tammy Everts (@tameverts)

eMetrics Chicago – June 16-19, 2014

Emotional Engagement

and Brand Perception

How we used EEG technology to measure

the neurological impact of slow web

pages on mobile device users

Have you ever done any of the following

when a site takes too long to load?

a. Cursed at your phone

b. Screamed at your phone

c. Thrown your phone

Tealeaf/Harris Interactive, 2011 @tameverts

1 Why do we care so much about mobile web

performance?

2 Why neuroscientific mobile testing?

3 What is emotional engagement research?

4 How did we perform our study?

5 What kinds of insights did we gain?

@tameverts

It’s a mobile-first world.

55% of all time spent on retail sites takes place on a mobile device.

comScore, October 2013

@tameverts

@tameverts

Four all-too-common

mobile assumptions

Assumption #1

My site isn’t slow on mobile.

Radware, 2013 State of the Union: Mobile Ecommerce Performance

Slide 10

@tameverts

Radware, 2013 State of the Union: Mobile Ecommerce Performance

Slide 11

@tameverts

Assumption #2

Mobile users expect pages to be slow.

Slide 12

Keynote, 2012 Mobile User Survey

Slide 13

@tameverts

Assumption #3

Mobile users want to browse, not buy.

By 2017, retail mcommerce is expected to hit $113 billion – 26% of total ecommerce sales.

eMarketer, September 2013

Mobile shopping cart abandonment rate is 39% greater than desktop rate.

2013 Google I/O

Slide 16

@tameverts

Assumption #4

Users will stick around, even if pages

are slow, if they really want to buy.

Skava/Harris Interactive, 2013

Slide 18

@tameverts

Case study: The impact of HTML delay on mobile business metrics

@tameverts

1 Mobile usage (time on site) for retail has overtaken

desktop.

2 People expect sites to be at least as fast on their

mobile devices as on their PCs.

3 Most mobile sites are far too slow.

4 This slowness has a significant impact on

abandonment rate and other business metrics.

@tameverts

Why neuroscientific mobile testing?

Slide 21

• 2010 EEG study of desktop

users

• Throttled connection from 5MB

to 2MB

• Found that participants had to

concentrate up to 50% harder

• Afterward, participants reported

negative brand associations

@tameverts

What is emotional

engagement research?

“95% of the consumer’s

decisions are made at the

subconscious level.”

Dr. Gerald Zaltman, Harvard UniversityExecutive Committee of Harvard University’s

Mind, Brain and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative

Slide 26

@tameverts

Patients with damage to emotional parts of the brain cannot make decisions, despite having no change in IQ.

Antonio Damasio, Descartes’ Error

Slide 29

@tameverts

The problem with surveys…

Traditional research relies on eliciting post-cognitive

responses.

But thinking and talking about emotions changes and

distorts them.

Slide 30

@tameverts

Five benefits of neuroscientific testing

1 Evaluates think/feel (not say)

2 Quantified data

3 Moment-by-moment interaction

4 Cause-and-effect triggers

5 Fresh, deeper insights

Slide 31

@tameverts

Simplified cognitive timeline

Slide 32

@tameverts

EEG Emotional Engagement Study:

How We Did It

Our research team

• Seren – leaders in customer experience & service design

• NeuroStrata – expert consultants in blending neuromarketing

applications

• Neurosense – global leader in implicit methodologies

Slide 34

@tameverts

The brands we tested

Slide 35

Our test participants

• 24 participants (12 male and 12 female)

• Pre-screened to ensure normal cognitive functioning

• Experienced mobile device users

• Did not know they were part of a performance study

Slide 36

Jakob Nielsen, Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users, 2000

Slide 37

@tameverts

Methodology

• Standardized set of shopping tasks (browsing and

checkout)

• Testers served sites over one of two speeds:

– normal Wifi

– artificial 500ms delay

• Using EEG headset and eyetracker, measured moment-

by-moment responses

Slide 38

@tameverts

Why test a 500ms delay?

Case study: The impact of HTML delay on mobile business metrics

@tameverts

We focused on the metrics most affected by the 500ms delay:

Emotional engagement

Frustration

Normal speed

Slide 43

2.66s 2.92s 2.83s 4.24s

Frustration levels across sites (normal speed)

Slide 44

@tameverts

Engagement levels across sites (normal speed)

Slide 45

@tameverts

500ms delay: Peak frustration results

Slide 46

@tameverts

500ms delay: Average engagement results

Slide 47

@tameverts

EEG test summary

• A mere 500ms delay results in significant increase in

frustration levels.

• Faster pages result in higher levels of engagement.

• Different sites trigger emotional shifts at different phases

of the experience (browsing vs. checkout).

• Important: These tests happened under ideal browsing

conditions.

Slide 48

@tameverts

Impact of site speed on post-test brand association

Slide 50

@tameverts

If pages aren’t fast, everything suffers.

Content “boring”

Visual design “tacky” and “confusing”

Navigation “frustrating” and “hard-to-navigate”

Slide 51

@tameverts

@tameverts

Takeaways

1 People feel “web stress” even when shopping under ideal

conditions.

2 Slower web performance has a clear and measurable

impact on people at a neurological level.

3 Slow sites can seriously undermine overall brand health.

4 The nature and scale of impact varies, depending on a

number of factors (e.g. inherent strength/weakness of

brand).

5 This presents great opportunities to strengthen overall

brand by investing in performance optimization.

Slide 54

@tameverts

http://www.radware.com/mobile-eeg2013/

Slide 56

@tameverts






Sources

Web Stress: A Wake-Up Call for European Business (Foviance, 2010)

http://www.ca.com/us/~/media/files/supportingpieces/final_webstress_survey_report_229296.aspx

2013 Social & Mobile Commerce Consumer Report (Shop.org / comScore)

http://shop.org/research/original/2013-social-mobile-commerce-consumer-report

2012 Mobile User Survey (Keynote)

http://www.keynote.com/docs/reports/Keynote-2012-Mobile-User-Survey.pdf

2013 State of the Union: Mobile Ecommerce Performance (Radware)

http://www.radware.com/mobile-sotu2013/

The Danger of a Poor Mobile Shopping Experience [INFOGRAPHIC]

http://www.getelastic.com/the-danger-of-a-poor-mobile-shopping-experience-infographic/

Case study: The impact of HTML delay on mobile business metrics (Web Performance Today, November 2011)

http://www.webperformancetoday.com/2011/11/23/case-study-slow-page-load-mobile-business-metrics/

Slide 57






























































webperformancetoday.com

twitter.com/tameverts

linkedin.com/in/tammyeverts

plus.google.com/+TammyEverts/

Slide 58

Questions?

Emotional Engagement and Brand Perception

Business

Transcript of Emotional Engagement and Brand Perception