Neuromarketing – Exploring the Brain of the Consumer (Book Review)

On August 10, 2013
neuromarketingIn order to understand the modern consumer we need to move away from consumer behavior stereotypes and employ new methods of market research, as science now allows us to explore the neural substrate of buyer behavior.
In 2010, Professor Leon Zurawicki released the first academic textbook in consumer neuroscience, titled “Neuromarketing – Exploring the Brain of the Consumer” (published by Springer). In 5 chapters and 250 well documented pages (and approximately 700 references), he presents the state of art of neuroscience research on consumer behavior, decision making, cognition and neurophysiology. The author also make a parallel between what marketing textbooks preach concerning consumer behavior and what experiments that used brain scanning revealed on this topic. The book is written in a layman’s language and addressed to market researchers, students interested in neuromarketing research and managers that want to better understand their markets.
In the first chapter (“Exploring the Brain”), Leon Zurawicki presents in a comprehensive way the neural systems and processes involved in sensory perception, responses to cognitive and emotional information, information processing, learning and memory, and their implications for buying behavior. He also describes in detail the neuroimaging and biometric devices and techniques and how they are used in marketing.
The second chapter (“Consumption as Feelings”) is focused on emotions, moods and reactions to stimuli, presenting the importance of reward and how it guides consumers’ desires and behavior. Zurawicki also presents how we interpret beauty, which is an important topic to any marketer that aims to enter the mind of the consumer through design.
Third chapter (“Neural Underpinnings of Risk Handling, Developing Preference and Choosing”) is devoted to the neural coordinates of decision making. The author offers a variety of examples of human behavior and decision making paradoxes and biased mechanisms which go against the logic of marketing textbooks and he also presents the relationships and attachments that occur between us and brands.
The fourth chapter (“Neural Bases for Segmentation and Positioning”) presents the importance of personality traits in consumer behavior and a new way to segment the consumers and understand their shopping patterns as a function of emotional differences. Moreover, he introduces the term of “neurosegmentation” and details the challenges of positioning.
The last chapter (“Applying Neuroscience and Biometrics to the Practice”) covers the applications of neuroscience to marketing decisions, online shopping, advertising, video games and retail sector, but also presents how consumers can resist temptation.
Neuromarketing – Exploring the Brain of the Consumer will help you better understand how people buy and evaluate their experiences of products and services based upon what their neural and emotional reactions reveal and will provide a detailed look at marketing as seen  through the lens of neuroscience.

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