In order to remain at the forefront of the latest trends in market research and the study of consumer behavior, Universidad del Pacífico Marketing program has implemented an Eye Tracking Lab, being the first in its specialty in our country to have this kind of laboratory.
"This technology allows several studies on advertising, catalogs, packaging, labels, web page functionality and products display" says Rosario Mellado, Vice Dean of Marketing at Universidad del Pacífico. In this way, the eye tracker represents a versatile market research instrument that records human pupil movement and allows to obtain information about unconscious behaviors, which is not possible to get through traditional methodologies.
This technology, although it is being used by Peruvian companies for commercial purposes, has been implemented by the Marketing program for study purposes of its students and for research projects led by their professors.
How does it work?
The eye tracking lab is a device that records the movement of the pupil before any static or dynamic stimulus that is displayed on a screen. This translates into different reports, such as heatmaps and gaze plots, as well as several quantitative indicators. This eye tracking technology not only measures the user's visual tracking, but also reads their facial expressions and relates them to emotions. In the heatmap reports, we can distinguish those areas with higher fixations of the pupil, which are highlighted in red; while those that were seen by fewer people and for less time are presented in lighter shades of yellow and green. Gaze plots show the location, order, and the time that you spent looking at each point of the product, website, advertising or video.
"You can objectively identify which elements of communication are those that attract the most attention and which go unnoticed, as well as the best location or combination of colors to achieve greater effectiveness" says Mellado. Through various courses and workshops, Universidad del Pacífico Marketing students use the tool as a complement to different qualitative and quantitative research in order to design strategies that result in greater added value for consumers and are based on a better understanding of their needs and preferences.