The Most Influential Generation: Leveraging Eye Tracking Technology to Understand How Millennial Women Absorb Information through Advertisements.
Initially written off as children who have been given too many participation trophies – the Millennial generation (18 to 34 year- old Americans) has now come of age. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Millennials make up nearly 1⁄4 of the US population, making them the largest generational demographic in America, and with nearly 80 million Millennials in the U.S. alone, this generational demographic has started to impact the economy as their buying power grows.
A Neilson study found that households in the US with at least one Millennial accounts for 37% of the total dollars spent in the U.S. and 31% of the trips taken annually. These households spend roughly 15% more than the average U.S. household. According to Accenture, Millennials in the U.S. alone spend approximately $600 billion annually. No longer teenagers living with mom and dad, many Millennials are now in their 20’s and 30’s, building careers, married, and having families of their own. Accenture reports that by 2020, annual spending for Millennials in the U.S. will grow to $1.4 trillion, making them the generation with the largest buying power.
In light of this generational shift, marketers too have shifted their focus, attempting to understand how to reach this digitally connected, easily distracted, socially minded, multi-tasking generation. However, even with this change in focus, marketers still seem to be ignoring a large and very influential demographic: Millennial women.
Women in general are responsible for creating and influencing a significant
amount of wealth. Women in the U.S. with income of at least $100,000 (or
investible assets of $500,000) control over $11.2 trillion – which is 39% of the
nation’s total investable assets. Not only are women controlling the investible assists of their households, but they are also becoming primary breadwinners and business owners generating and controlling a growing amount of dollars.
Millennial women are the driving force of this shift; in fact, these women spend seven times more than their parents did at the same age, even adjusted for in inflation. A study conducted by FutureCast found that of the 6.2 million affluent millennials in the U.S. (those making an annual income of $100,000 or more), 64% are female. With women graduating from college at a higher rate than their male counterparts, and female hourly earnings slowly becoming more in line with the hourly earnings of men (92% - still not equal, but much closer to parity than it’s been for generations past), Millennial women have captured a significant stake in an ability to impact the economy, and should be a significant consideration – if not the primary focus – for marketers targeting the Millennial generation. Millennial women are exercising more power than ever interms of purchasing, but are not being targeted by marketers or brands for anything other than women-centric products, and even those sometimes fall short of reaching this specific demographic in a way they relate to.
“Boomers bought stuff because they needed it; Xers buy because they want it. Gen Y . . . are easier targets, because they have grown up in a culture of pure consumerism. They’re more likely to buy because they see buying as a part of life.”
-Rob Frankel, author of The Revenge of Brand X
USING EYE TRACKING TO UNDERSTAND VIEWING BEHAVIOR
These women are financially independent, driven, technologically savvy, but they are overextended and rushed for time. A study conducted by Radar Research, suggests that Millennial women live a faster pace of life and are easily distracted, which impacts the way that they consume advertisements. They've been besieged by media their entire lives, making them incredibly savvy in the way they digest all types of advertisements.
The Radar study concluded that like many consumers, Millennial women are unlikely to click on digital advertising; however, they are much more aware of these ads. When asked if they have discovered a new product via an online ad that they saw but did not actually click on nearly 40% reported that they had. Conversely, just over a quarter of Gen X women said the same. This raises a question around how these women view advertisements. What about advertisements catches their attention? How does their viewing behavior differ from women older than 35? How can marketers design ads that are more likely to get these women to take notice?
To answer these questions, Bug Insights designed and implemented an eye tracking study. 25 women from Houston Texas were included in the study. Participants were segmented into two age categories: Millennials (women age 18-35) and Non- Millennials (women over the age of 35). 13 Millennials and 12 Non-Millennials participated in the study – a total of 25 women – which was conducted in June of 2016. Each participant was asked to first self-report on a few key demographics, including age. These self-reported demographics were used to segment the data for analysis. The study included 16 print advertisements; each participant saw the same 16 ads presented in random order. To capture the Eye Tracking data, a Tobii X2-30 screen based tracker was used. This tracker is affixed to a screen, allowing participants unrestricted movement and captures data at 30Hz. Tobii Pro Study was leveraged for data analysis.
Results demonstrated that consistently Millennial women spent half as much time viewing advertisements as Non-Millennial women did. On average Millennials spent just 3.3 seconds viewing the ads; for Non-Millennials average time per ad was 6.5 seconds. Interestingly the patterns and the way the media is viewed is fairly similar; however, Millennial women just appear to be more efficient at digesting the information. This is not surprising, given their lifelong exposure to technology and their strong ability to multitask.
For example, the images below, show a heat map of the viewing patterns for Millennials vs. Non-Millennials for one of the ads tested. For this specific ad, Millennials spent on average just under 4 seconds viewing it; Non-Millennials averaged about 7.5 seconds.
Looking at the heat map view side by side, it is easy to see that viewing patterns are similar – both demographics, essentially
view the add from top to bottom and from left to right. However, one key difference exists: the Millennial segment basically skips right over the small text just below the image that says “The stylish XT5 combines effortless power and progressive technologies so that you can focus on what lies ahead”; whereas the Non-Millennial segment spends almost the same amount of time on both text sections (the “Dare to ask, where next? Introducing the first ever XT5” text above the image and “The stylish” text just below the image). This suggests that while Millennials are still able to process information more quickly, they still will not absorb everything a Non-Millennial will. In the case of this advertisement, it may be problematic, as the text that was overlooked provides most of the detail about the car being advertised, and given a Millennial’s need to make a connection with the brand and the product, this ad will miss the mark.
Another advertisement tested as a part of the study shows the same results. A Gaze Plot indicates that both segments viewed the advertisement from top to bottom; however again Millennials do not linger over the add. Their average time of viewing
for this specific test was just over 3 seconds; for Non-Millennials, average time was just over 6 seconds. And again, Millennials followed a similar gaze pattern here, however notice the time spent (indicated by the size of the dots) was shorter and they almost completely failed to notice the “Drink responsibly” text at the bottom of the advertisement. For this specific advertisement, that may be ok. While obviously this company wants its consumers to drink responsibly, that is not the key focus of this message, and likely would not be a reason that Millennials are drawn to this brand over another.
Catching the eye of Millennials is challenging; despite their ability to process information more quickly, they still get distracted more easily and move on more quickly than their older counterparts. In the Eye Tracking study that was conducted, even advertisements that had significantly more text than others, did not catch the eye of Millennials for significantly more time – for example, some ads with large blocks of text prompted non-Millennials to take nearly a full second longer than the average length of viewing; Millennials instead took just an additional two tenths of a second. The car ad pictured to the left was one of the ads tested that included a significant block of text. For this ad, Non-Millennials averaged 8.6 seconds to view the ad; Millennials took just 3.75 seconds
What does this mean for marketers today?
Millennial women are the first generation to grow up in a truly digital age. They have been inundated with technology and advertisements since they can remember, and as a result they have developed an ability to quickly digest information and a very low tolerance for stagnation.
This female demographic needs constant entertainment and engagement, and has developed an incredible ability to sort through chaos and overwhelming amounts of information. Busy schedules, constant activity and significant drive means that women demand that information is disseminated quickly and efficiently. It is imperative that marketers use this information to their advantage. When designing advertisements, keep this demographic and the following behaviors observed in this study in mind: 1) a rapid assessment of advertisements, 2) the tendency to ignore multiple text blocks, and 3) the propensity to move on quickly no matter the amount of text. These insights should inform advertisement design and should result in creatives that are engaging but succinct. Calls to action must be clear, uncluttered and communicated efficiently, and important information should never be communicated with small fonts, long paragraphs, or at the foot of ads. Millennial women present a huge opportunity for marketers today, and with their growing ability to influence purchase decisions and impact the economy, marketers cannot afford to ignore this demographic in advertisement and creative design.
Bug Insights is a marketing analytics company that provides prescriptive analytics to help organizations make better business decisions. Using fact-driven data, Bug Insights consults clients how to best optimize the return on their marketing investments. Bug Insights assists organizations with a range of actionable research methodologies including focus groups, conjoint, A/B testing, data mining, and trade-off analysis. The company advises organizations of all sizes across a range of industry verticals including financial services, public policy, transportation, telecommunications, hospitality, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, higher education, and energy.
Founded in 2014, Bug Insights is headquartered in Houston and Atlanta. For more information, please Contact Bug Insights
turnnoffyourmind
baratheonpilled
pixelskylines
andulkaphoto
jacobvanloon
kianamaiart
kaledo-art