Marketers should get emotional

Emotion recognition and measurement specialists, Realeyes have welcomed Jeff Ryan, ex-senior data science leader of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to their team.

"Getting the caliber of someone like Jeff from such an auspicious entity as a US government agency is testament to the incredibly dynamic and appealing arena that emotion analytics has become," said Mihkel Jäätma, Realeyes' CEO.

Realeyes, as well as Affectiva and Emotient, are just a few of an increasing number of companies involved in emotion recognition technology - technology which marketers can harness to help test creative, plan media spends and analyze response. Emotion recognition technology can be used to measure reaction to video content, static ads, websites or even packaging designs.

"Up-and-coming research into behavioral economics suggests that emotional response may be a better predictor of ad effectiveness than rational measures, and go far towards explaining consumers' emotional behavior patterns," says Realeyes.

Statistics from Realeyes show that emotional content in advertising significantly boosts effectiveness:

- 100x quicker at attracting views;
- 20x social action conversion;
- 8x higher click-through rate;
- 3x completion rate.

Realeyes' technology uses psychologist Dr Paul Ekman's six basic emotions recognized for their cross-cultural universality - anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.

According to Crone Consulting, the worldwide market for emotion-analyzing software could reach $US10 billion in five years, up from more than $US20 million this year.

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: advertising, biometrics, emotion recognition, facial recognition, technology