Eyetracking
Posted by Simone Militzer on June 23rd, 2008 at 11:25am
Eyetracking is an established method for the identification of advertising effectiveness. With eyetracking you can register eye movement and visual attention from test persons.
It is used in the market research area e.g. to investigate and analyse advertising campaigns, the usability of web pages or product pages.
Different questions can be answerd with eyetracking. For example
- How long do test persons look at elements [charts, pictures, diagrams, videos etc] on webpages?
- In which order does somebody notice something?
- Which elements generate the most attention and which the least?
- How long do they pause on menus, headlines, banner ads etc?
- Is the company logo on your homepage an eye catcher?
Eyetracking aparatus
Eyetracking is a very expensive and complex method. At the beginning many awkward equipment was fixed on the head of test persons or in front of them. An example of this equipment is Eye Mark Recorder. It is not really comfortable because sometimes the helmets are bulky and it looks a little bit weird.
New- eyetracking with infrared laserBut today it is getting easier. Infrared technique is often used instead of this apparatus. The test person sits in front of a computer or next to an infrared eye tracking apparatus.
A weak infrared ray focuses on the eyes, calibrates and every eye movement can be measured in realtime. Afterwards a software calculates the eye movements. From this data, observation periods can be reconstructed.
Advantages
Eyetracking is more valid like in questioning for example. If you interview somebody he can give you socially desired answers. Eyes don´t lie.
Disadvantages
But there are also some disadvantages. People who wear glasses or contacts may adulterate results.
Also, eyetracking is limited to the quantitative function. That somebody looks at the website is a fact but it doesn´t say why a person looks at it. The qualitative aspect is missing and it is better to ask in more depth. A combination of both techniques is recommended.
Sources:
- IC Consulting GmbH, Werbewirkungskontrolle durch Eyetracking und Attention Tracking/ Holger Sicking
-http://www.e-teaching.org
For more information please have a look at:
http://www.chronos-vision.de
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_tracking
Posted in Uncategorized
Hi,
I am the managing director of Think Eyetracking (www.thinkeyetracking.com) and I just want to clarify a couple of things. Eyetracking need not be ‘very expensive and complex’. We have a productised solution that allows research at the price of focus groups. Our software is designed specifically for the market reseach industry such that one day of training is enough to run a comprehensive test.
Also, glasses and contacts do not adulterate results, you may have trouble eyetracking some of these people. Specifically, it can be difficult to track a person with hard contact lenses (however these are not very common nowadays) or someone with bifocals or multifocals. All other glasses and contact lenses are fine.
Finally, I agree, eyetracking on its own is best for quantitative research, but it can be an extremely useful tool in conducting qualitative interviews. You can find out more by reading about the PEEP (Post Experience Eyetracking Protocol) method at http://www.thinkeyetracking.com/resources.html.
- Lizzie Maughan
Posted by Lizzie Maughan on July 3rd, 2008 at 4:13pm