What Are You Looking At? Eye-Tracking Shows Which Ads Work and Which Don't

When an ad is published, there is an assumption that consumers will actually look at the parts of the ad that the advertiser considers most important: The product, the offer, the logo, and so on.

But until recently no one really knew if advertisers' assumptions were accurate. EyeTrackShop fills that niche by literally tracking the eyeballs of consumers as they view ads and web pages and producing a heat map of the results. Red means an area of the ad got a lot of attention. Green, less so.

This example, featuring Reebok's EasyTone, shows that it's not news that when presented with a taut backside people will look at it:

But look how hard the rest of the ad is working -- great heat on the headline and the shoe itself. The company name got less attention than the dog, however, suggesting that the headline should have said "Reebok's EasyTone" and not "ReeTone," which is a pun on the product name.

Click on the gallery link for six more ads and web sites, from Google, Walmart and others, that show what you're really looking at when confronted by advertising.

Next: Gallery of EyeTrackShop heat maps»
Related:

• I-Spy: EyeTracker to Let Advertisers Watch Users Via Webcam as They Surf

Turns out that both interfaces are roughly equal in terms of heat, with consumers paying attention to roughly the same areas.

Next: Ben & Jerry's»

Ben & Jerry's

If Ben & Jerry's doesn't actually show the ice cream, does it make the ad less effective?

Apparently not. People focused on the sleepy farmer, his cherries, and the Ben & Jerry's logo. What they didn't do is read the ad copy at the bottom. Nor did they scan the tagline, "It's what's inside that counts." Nonetheless, the heat map suggests that most consumers would have registered "farmer, cherries, Ben & Jerry's, hand-picked," which was probably enough.

Next: Kmart»

Kmart

There's a lot going on at Kmart's web site but it seems well-organized and easy to navigate ...

And indeed it is. People are focusing on the offers at the top of the page, which is presumably what Kmart wants.

Next: Target»

Target

Just like Kmart, Target is promoting a back to school sale ...

While consumers are focusing on the stuff at the top, which is presumably what Target wants, note how few of them have picked up on the fact that Target is offering free shipping.

Next: Walmart»

Walmart

Looks simple enough -- a standard ecommerce web site from the U.S.'s largest employer and an acknowledged master of marketing ...

Fail: Consumers are highly focused on the navigation functions of the site and not so much on the deals and offers. The central "splash" promotion is getting less heat than Walmart's search engine.

Next: Cannes»

Cannes International Ad Festival

A promotion for the foremost advertising awards show, which takes place annually in France. This is advertising targeted at potential advertisers, so it better be good ...

And it is. Viewers seem to be focusing on all the things the festival wants them to: The model, the tagline and then the brand logo itself. However, the logo is getting much less attention than the others, so maybe it should have been moved up, right underneath the headline.

Next: The Telegraph»

The Telegraph

Are people really blind to banner ads on news web sites? Conventional wisdom suggests they are. And we all know that news content is much more compelling than advertising, right?

Wrong. The humble banner ad appears to be a lot more appealing than the fate of Rupert Murdoch's media empire.