Neuro Design: Neuromarketing Insights to Boost Engagement and Profitability

saliency map. This is a visual map of whatever our brain thinks is worth drawing our attention to.

System 1 is the name given to types of mental processes that are effortless and operate non-consciously.

Design also has a real impact on how we value things. Sites with a design optimized to what the brain likes will be more trusted and liked.

(2016) he gives a good example of how context can prime us to be receptive to different types of advertising messages. He realized that two of our most powerful drives – to stay safe and to find a partner and procreate – can lead to two opposing behaviour strategies at any particular moment: the desire to be supported by fitting in with the crowd (

Research by Microsoft amongst 2,000 people in Canada showed that the ability to sustain focused attention in the face of distractions had dropped to just eight seconds in 2015 – down from 12 seconds in the year 2000, before the explosion of online images, videos and mobile screens.

indulgence, were triggering related concepts in the minds of participants and affecting their behaviour. This shows how priming also triggers the things that we mentally closely associate with the prime: such as old age being associated with walking more slowly. The images we see immediately before or at the time of a decision can influence our beh

asking people what they think of something is not good enough. Much of the time people are not consciously aware of the mechanisms in their brain that have caused them to prefer one design over another.

We are visual creatures. We didn’t evolve to read, but we did to look at imagery. It is our most salient sense, and the one that takes up the largest real estate in the brain.

A/B testing can be a trial-and-error process. The missing puzzle piece is to understand the hidden mental processes in the mind that are driving the mouse clicks. This is what neuro design aims to provide.