What is neuromarketing? Understanding how people make decisions

10 Min.

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By the Bitbrain team

March 4, 2025

In today's world, consumer expectations are at an all-time high, competition is more intense than ever, and access to information is virtually unlimited. In seconds, people can compare products, read reviews, and form opinions long before interacting directly with a brand.

In this hyperconnected landscape, traditional market research methods—like surveys and focus groups—often fail to capture the complexity of consumer behaviour. Today’s audiences are exposed to hundreds of brand messages daily and usually make decisions without fully understanding why. This complexity requires a deeper exploration of the emotional and cognitive processes behind those choices, many of which occur beneath conscious awareness.

That’s where neuromarketing comes in.

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From trend to strategy: Why neuromarketing is on every brand’s radar

Neuromarketing, an interdisciplinary field combining neuroscience and marketing, provides tools for researchers and marketers to examine how the brain and body respond to brand stimuli. Interest in neuromarketing is rapidly growing across industries—from retail and healthcare to media and technology. According to a recent analysis, the global neuromarketing market is projected to grow from $1.71 billion in 2024 to $2.62 billion by 2030, underscoring its growing strategic significance.

This growth is driven by:

Wider adoption across e-commerce, media, and consumer healthcare sectors.
Increasing demand for emotionally intelligent and personalized branding.
Technological advances in portable neurodevices and remote biometric testing.

Simultaneously, growing digital transparency and consumer empowerment have intensified market competition. Whether from a celebrity or an everyday user, a single post can shape public perception and significantly impact brand equity in real-time, making a compelling customer experience desirable and essential.

Delivering that experience requires more than offering a quality product or service. It demands that every customer touchpoint—a website visit, product unboxing, or social media interaction—align with the consumer's functional and emotional expectations. In this context, neuromarketing acts as a critical bridge. It helps us understand what consumers do and why they do it. Here’s the real challenge:

What do customers want?
What shapes their perception of value?
Which factors influence their purchasing decisions the most?
How do they want to relate to a brand?
What creates affinity—and what triggers rejection?

While these questions have always been central to marketing, the methods used to answer them have evolved. Since the 1960s, companies have relied on surveys, interviews, and focus groups, grounded in the idea that people are rational decision-makers, a belief supported by the Homo Economicus model, which posits that individuals make logical, benefit-maximizing choices.

But since the 1990s, behavioural science has upended that theory. It turns out that many of our choices are automatic, emotion-driven, and influenced by unconscious processes, ones we can’t always articulate, even when asked. This is the domain where neuromarketing excels.

Companies like Google, Microsoft, Ikea, and Coca-Cola have embraced neuromarketing to understand better and connect with their audiences. Originally a niche experimental field, neuromarketing has evolved into a data-driven, science-backed discipline that uncovers the hidden motivators behind consumer decisions.

What is neuromarketing?

Neuromarketing studies consumers' sensorimotor, cognitive, and emotional responses to marketing stimuli. Rather than relying solely on what people say they think or feel, neuromarketing investigates what they experience—at a subconscious and physiological level—when interacting with brands, products, or advertisements.

This field draws on advanced technologies to decode non-verbal and automatic reactions that traditional research often misses. These insights help marketers refine how they communicate, design, and connect with their audience.

By measuring brain and body responses, neuromarketing can inform improvements in ad design and brand storytelling, product packaging and shelf layout, digital user experiences (UX) and app flows or message clarity, tone, and emotional consistency.

Key tools and what they measure

EEG (Electroencephalography): Tracks electrical activity in the brain to assess attention, cognitive effort, and engagement.
fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging): Maps brain regions linked to emotional and memory-based responses.
Eye-tracking: Monitors where and how long a person looks at different elements—ideal for packaging, websites, or video content.
GSR (Galvanic Skin Response): Detects subtle changes in skin conductivity associated with emotional arousal.
Facial Coding: Analyzes facial micro-expressions to identify spontaneous emotional reactions.
HRV (Heart Rate Variability): Measures physiological stress and emotional intensity through variation in heartbeats.

The role of AI and big data in modern neuromarketing

Neuromarketing has evolved beyond isolated lab tests. Today, it is increasingly powered by artificial intelligence and integrated with behavioural analytics, enabling more precise and scalable applications:

Machine learning algorithms can analyze neuro data (e.g., EEG, GSR, eye-tracking) to segment audiences, predict behaviour, and identify emotional triggers.
Predictive analytics allows brands to forecast campaign performance or customize content delivery based on subconscious consumer responses.
Real-time UX personalization uses biometric feedback to dynamically adapt websites, interfaces, or product recommendations to individual users.

By merging neuroscience with data science, neuromarketing gives brands a competitive edge. It enables the creation of emotionally resonant experiences that perform better in a crowded, emotionally saturated marketplace.

The two branches: Theoretical vs. applied neuromarketing

Neuromarketing is often categorized into two complementary branches: Theoretical Neuromarketing, also known as consumer neuroscience, and Applied Neuromarketing, or neuro research. Each serves a distinct purpose—one focused on foundational understanding, the other on real-world application.

Theoretical Neuromarketing (Consumer Neuroscience)

This branch explores the underlying psychological and neurological mechanisms that influence human behaviour. It addresses broad questions such as how decisions are formed, what roles emotion, memory, and attention play in brand preference, or how sensory cues—like visuals, scents, or sounds—shape perception?

Theoretical neuromarketing applies advancements in neuroscience to marketing, explaining phenomena like:

How symmetry in design can enhance perceived trustworthiness
How pleasant scents increase dwell time in retail environments
How background music influences product choice

The significant advances in neuroscience produced in the last decades have helped us better understand our consumers. It is especially interesting to stay up-to-date on all these advances by consulting specialized scientific journals and videos. One well-known study by North et al. (1999) found that French music in a wine store led to more French wine purchases, while German music increased German wine sales. Most customers were unaware of the influence, highlighting a key insight: subconscious cues can strongly affect behaviour, but only within the right context.

Theoretical neuromarketing is not a "magic formula.” Human behaviour is multifaceted and deeply influenced by context. What works in one setting may completely fail in another. Despite decades of progress in neuroscience, we are still far from fully decoding the consumer mind. Therefore, theoretical neuromarketing should be viewed as a source of insight and hypothesis generation, not as definitive truth. Its value is greatest when combined with applied methods that test ideas in practical, real-world settings.

Applied Neuromarketing (Neuroresearch)

Applied neuromarketing transforms scientific theory into a practical business strategy. It focuses on answering specific, actionable questions such as:

Which version of an ad generates stronger emotional engagement?
Does this packaging design convey our intended brand values?
Is our website intuitive, or is it causing cognitive overload?

Researchers evaluate tangible stimuli—such as videos, digital interfaces, product packaging, or retail environments—using EEG, fMRI, eye-tracking, facial coding, galvanic skin response, and other tools to measure physiological information.

Another case study illustrating applied neuromarketing in a small business context comes from Chygryn et al. (2024), who used eye-tracking to optimize restaurant posters. They showed that red accents and centrally aligned elements captured more attention, offering practical insights for small businesses to enhance visibility without additional cost.

Because neuromarketing studies are, fundamentally, neuroscience studies, rigorous design is essential. Reliable outcomes depend on a robust methodology and the use of high-quality technology.

These insights help marketers craft more impactful campaign messages, reduce friction in digital customer journeys, and enhance product appeal and shelf visibility. For instance, neuromarketing studies can determine whether a 40-second commercial can be shortened to 20 seconds without compromising emotional impact or assess which of two background songs in an advertisement is more effective at improving brand recall.

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Best practices for reliable neuromarketing studies

Define clear research objectives: Focus on a small set of well-defined hypotheses to maintain clarity and direction. As in any other scientific investigation, neuromarketing studies must focus on a short number of objectives. In other words, a single neuromarketing study cannot cover all the factors that could influence the decision and purchase processes of the consumer. For example, the context of where you see a product, its price, brand, music that plays at the time of purchase, who accompanies you or the time you have can affect the purchase process and what attracts your attention, and it’s impossible to simulate all these possibilities in a single study. Also, the closer the study is to a real experience (more ecological), the more experimentation biases are produced, and it is more difficult to obtain reliable conclusions (the result is due to the song, the price, the product?).
Use an adequate sample size: A minimum of 40–50 participants is generally needed to ensure statistical significance. Sometimes the samples used in neuromarketing studies are smaller than what is recommended. For this reason, samples with less than 40 people can provide behaviour trends but not representative results that can be generalized to the remainder of consumers. A sample of 40 people usually can gather emotional and cognitive information adequately if it is produced in a relatively homogeneous manner throughout the sample.
Clarify that we measure physiological responses: Ensure the experimental context is tightly controlled and consider external factors when interpreting results. What we are measuring are physiological reactions—such as brain activity, skin conductance, or heart rate—that correlate with emotions and other non-conscious processes like memory, attention, or engagement. However, these physiological responses can also be influenced by external conditions (e.g., a too warm room, unexpected noises during fieldwork). Always account for contextual influences. Cultural, environmental, and temporal factors shape human behaviour: avoid broad generalizations.
Design realistic experiments: Aim for ecological validity by simulating real-world scenarios wherever possible. Experiments should reflect natural consumption contexts to enhance the relevance of insights. For example, evaluating product packaging should ideally be done in a setting that represents a store shelf, rather than in isolation on a computer screen. However, it's crucial to balance realism with experimental control—too much ecological complexity can introduce noise and confounding variables. The key is to replicate the core elements of the consumer experience while maintaining manageable conditions for data collection and interpretation.
Evaluate non-conscious and conscious responses: Human behaviour presents a very important non-conscious component that can be measured with neuromarketing techniques, which complement the results obtained with traditional techniques regarding conscious aspects. In other words, neuromarketing is not meant to replace conventional market research, but to enrich it. Understanding both conscious and non-conscious factors is essential to fully grasp the decision-making and purchase processes. Integrate neurodata with traditional tools like surveys or interviews for a more holistic view of consumer behaviour.
Clarify metrics and analysis methods: Know the meaning of each metric to ensure a correct interpretation and be transparent about how metrics such as “engagement” or “arousal” are calculated. Each company that applies neuromarketing usually use their metrics, which means that they could have different names or that the same name could be used to refer to different metrics that are calculated differently. The researcher must understand the role of emotions and other non-conscious responses within the context of the evaluation and be able to identify the potential drivers behind the observed results.
Ensure ethical rigour: Secure informed consent, maintain participant anonymity, and communicate how data will be used. Ethical considerations are fundamental in neuromarketing research. As neuromarketing technologies advance, so does the responsibility to apply them ethically. Ensuring responsible use is critical to protecting individual rights and preserving the field's credibility. Ethical practices include obtaining informed consent, safeguarding biometric data, maintaining transparency by avoiding exaggerated claims, and applying techniques equitably across diverse populations.

Neuromarketing companies should integrate both theoretical and applied knowledge to effectively guide clients. This includes helping them focus on specific research questions rather than attempting to address every behavioural variable in a single study, and ensuring careful study design and accurate interpretation of results. When these principles are followed, applied neuromarketing can deliver valuable insights, recommendations, and learnings for brands. Neuromarketing should be viewed as strategic guidance, not prescriptive truth. Testing, iteration, and localization are essential to translate insights into effective campaigns across diverse environments.

Neuromarketing and traditional research are a powerful combination. The most effective marketing strategies integrate neuromarketing with traditional research methods to comprehensively understand consumer behaviour. By combining biometric tools with interviews, focus groups, and surveys, brands can uncover emotional and rational insights.

Conclusion

Despite portrayals in pop culture, neuromarketing is not about uncovering a hidden “buy button.” It aims to understand how people experience content, branding, and environments emotionally. When applied ethically and strategically, marketers can craft engaging messages, design intuitive customer journeys, and reduce risk through early validation. As technologies like AI, brain-computer interfaces, and real-time biometrics advance, neuromarketing will become even more precise. Ultimately, it is about understanding, testing, and shaping experiences that align with people's thoughts and feelings.

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