Fors Marsh Group's Jon Strohl, senior researcher, shows how advertisers and marketers can use eye-tracking technology to improve advertisements across mediums and to inform business and creative decisions.
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*Bojko, Aga (2013). Eye tracking the user experience: A practical guide to research.
Brooklyn, New York: Rosenfeld Media.
SHOULD WE INCLUDE EYE TRACKING?
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ENGAGEMENT
Number of fixations
Total dwell time
Percentage of time
on an area
FINDABILITY
Time to first
fixation
Number of
fixations prior to
first fixation
PROCESSING
Fixation
durations
WORKLOAD/EXCITEM
ENT
Pupil dilation
PROCESSING
ORDER
Gaze path
COMPREHENSIO
N
Repeat fixations
QUANTITATIVE METRICS
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VIEWABLE VS. SEEN
Heat map of participants who were
asked to learn more about careers.
Gaze plot of a participant who was
asked to read the news story.
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THE VIEWABILITY CHALLENGE
*Google and DoubleClick display advertising platforms data, July 2014. Retrieved from
https://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/the-importance-of-being-seen_study.pdf
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AD EXPOSURE STUDY: METHOD
Research Question:
How well are advertisements on social media feeds
noticed and remembered?
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AD EXPOSURE STUDY: FINDING 1
Participants were able to recall
(aided and unaided) and recognize
at least some ads across social
media platforms.
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AD EXPOSURE STUDY: FINDING 2
Participants that were shown ads
at slower exposure speeds (.5s)
were able to recognize more ads
and recall more ad product
categories compared to those
viewing ads at faster exposure
speeds (.25s).
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AD EXPOSURE STUDY: FINDING 3
Participants had a higher number
of fixations and longer fixation
durations on an ad when viewing
ads at slower exposure speeds.
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AD EXPOSURE STUDY: FINDING 4
An increase in raw fixations on an
ad was positively associated with
an increase in the likelihood of
recalling and recognizing the ad.
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TODAY
Place ads just above the fold
*Five factors of display viewability. December, 2014. Retrieved from
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/data-measurement/5-factors-of-
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TODAY
Prioritize vertical ads
*Five factors of display viewability. December, 2014. Retrieved from
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/data-measurement/5-factors-of-
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TODAY
Publish on pages with more engagement
*Five factors of display viewability, December, 2014. Retrieved from
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/data-measurement/5-factors-of-
Implementation
The benefits and trade-offs of incorporating eye tracking into a research plan should be included in an initial project goals discussion.
Several questions should be considered when developing a research plan:
Will eye tracking help to answer the primary research questions?
Which eye-tracking metrics are most appropriate for answering the research questions?
Will eye tracking lead to actionable findings and recommendations?
Eye-tracking technology allows practitioners to measure where, how long, and how often users fixate on design elements.
Eye-tracking data can provide evidence and support for findings identified by other data sources as well as provide unique insights not possible from conventional measures.
Including eye tracking as a data collection tool can also improve the visibility of research being conducted within an organization.
Fixations...
Gaze plot: Visual representation of fixations and saccades. Each circle represents a fixation and each line represents a saccade from one fixation to the next. Circles are numbered to represent the order of the fixations. The larger the circle, the longer the fixation duration. Gaze plots typically visualize one or a few participants’ eye movements.
Fixations...
Gaze plot: Visual representation of fixations and saccades. Each circle represents a fixation and each line represents a saccade from one fixation to the next. Circles are numbered to represent the order of the fixations. The larger the circle, the longer the fixation duration. Gaze plots typically visualize one or a few participants’ eye movements.
Heat map: Visual representation that compares the relative count of fixations on areas of the page. The red color represents areas of the page that were fixated on the most. The light green color represents areas of the page that were fixated on with lower frequency. Heat maps typically use aggregated data to visualize multiple participants’ eye movements.
Fixations...
Gaze plot: Visual representation of fixations and saccades. Each circle represents a fixation and each line represents a saccade from one fixation to the next. Circles are numbered to represent the order of the fixations. The larger the circle, the longer the fixation duration. Gaze plots typically visualize one or a few participants’ eye movements.
Heat map: Visual representation that compares the relative count of fixations on areas of the page. The red color represents areas of the page that were fixated on the most. The light green color represents areas of the page that were fixated on with lower frequency. Heat maps typically use aggregated data to visualize multiple participants’ eye movements.
The measurement of online advertising is among the biggest topics facing marketers who want to ensure they are paying for ads that can actually be seen. But it isn’t enough just to meet the industry’s latest definition of “viewable.”
“represent a minimum standard for the ‘opportunity to see’ the ad, they’re not about whether the ad was in fact actually seen or whether the ad’s message was actually received by the user.”
For ads that just barely met the MRC standard for viewability, 51% of respondents actually looked at the ad but only 17% could recall it later. For ads that well-exceeded the MRC’s standard, 74% of respondents looked at the ad and 32% recalled it.
Inattentional blindness is the phenomenon where an object or element is in someone’s field of view but it’s not consciously perceived.
Intentional blindness which is often referred to as banner blindness. Is often considered more purposeful where an object is consciously or unconsciously ignored. This is a common challenge in advertising where we are attempting to get people to view an object that may intentionally be avoided.
A display ad is counted as viewable when at least 50% of its area is visible on the screen for at least 1 second. Note: For large display ads of 242,500 pixels or more, the ad is counted as viewable when at least 30% of it’s area is visible for at least 1 second.
A video ad is counted as viewable when at least 50% of its area is visible on the screen while the video is playing for at least 2 seconds.
A display ad is counted as viewable when at least 50% of its pixels is visible on the screen for at least 1 second. Note: For large display ads of 242,500 pixels or more, the ad is counted as viewable when at least 30% of it’s area is visible for at least 1 second.
A video ad is counted as viewable when at least 50% of its area is visible on the screen while the video is playing for at least 2 seconds.
Understand how social media users attend to, recognize, and recall advertisements embedded in mobile social media feeds. This research tested the memorability of advertisements with the purpose of informing social media marketing decisions.
The client team created 12 videos. There were three social media platforms. Each platform had two different types of ad content. And each type of ad content had a fast and slow exposure speed. The fast was simulated to be a exposure time of approximately .25s and the slow was simulated to be an exposure time of .5 seconds. Because we didn’t want a participant to see the same ad content twice, participants saw 6 of the 12 videos.
A total of 30 adults – 23-52 years of age participated in the study.
A slower scroll speed increased the average number of fixations on an ad by a total of six fixations, from 18.4 at fast scroll speeds to 24.7 at slow scroll speeds.
On average, slower scroll speeds increased fixation durations by approximately 125 milliseconds (approximately one-tenth of a second). At fast scroll speeds, participants fixated on ads for 368 milliseconds, compared to 493 milliseconds at slow scroll speeds.
Vertical ads are more likely to be on the page for a longer period of time, increasing the likelihood that it is seen.
The only way you can be confident of whether you’re ad is effective is by ensuring that it is engaging as well as viewable on the screen.
Test ads during the design phase to see how engaging they are.
Compare performance against other concepts.
Don’t invest in a prime location if it isn’t going to engage your intended audience.