Friday, September 10, 2021

Look Out for Where They’re Gazing

To derive full effectiveness from our ads, we’d like the viewer to be mentally transported into the story portrayed by the ad. Researchers at University of Houston say that with a still image ad featuring a human model, this transportation is influenced by the direction of the model’s gaze. An ad for a product or service appealing to positive emotions works best when the model’s eyes are averted rather than looking straight at the shopper. In one of the experiments—using a Facebook ad for a woman’s sun hat—people were 30% more likely to buy when the model had an averted compared to a direct gaze.
     There’s a downside to the averted gaze, though. It lessens spokesperson credibility. When credibility is essential, such as in ads primarily designed to deliver information, use a direct gaze by the model, advise the researchers. This is also best when we want to buffer the viewer’s mental transportation into the ad because of negative emotional content. The pain from full identification with the ad content can result in the viewer resisting involvement with the message. A model’s direct instead of averted gaze eases the defensive reflex. The researchers used a domestic violence awareness campaign to illustrate how this operates.
     These rules apply for ads, which are a relatively impersonal form of interpersonal communication. Other research argues for a direct, although certainly not harsh, gaze in face-to-face sales transactions. In such transactions, learn how to proceed by noticing where and how your shoppers are looking. Your credibility counts here, as does the credibility of the consumer. Liars shift their gaze rapidly, or in an effort to control this sign, the liar will fix their gaze on something aside from your face and will resist looking elsewhere. If you say, “May I show you the item once again before you leave?,” they’ll evidence signs of trouble looking directly at it.
     Watching the ways in which your shoppers move their eyes also gives you clues toward figuring out what interests those shoppers. Researchers at University of Minnesota and Chinese University of Hong Kong find this extends to what your shoppers will be interested in later in their shopping trip. Eyeball movement patterns persist. If a consumer tends to look toward the left or look upwards early in the shopping trip, it becomes more likely they’ll be gazing in that same direction later in the trip.

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