Software examining and making emotional connection to increase efficiency of ads

More than 90 percent of purchases are based on emotional response, not rational thought – but how to analyze, thus influence customers' innermost responses to impulses?You want to be rationally convincing, yes, but you also need to be emotionally engaging. IMotions, which was founded in Denmark but is setting up a US headquarters in Cambridge, believes it has opened a new door into consumer psychology. When you glance at a new product or an advertisement, what are your feelings toward it? What you might say in a focus group or an interview can encapsulate your rational, right-brained-reaction, but the iMotions system aims to supply insight into your emotional response. Unlike systems that require plastering sensors on the body to gauge changes in a person's heart rate, breathing, or perspiration, all iMotions asks is that you sit in front of a flat-screen computer monitor. The $30,000 monitor, made by another company, bounces a beam of near-infrared light off of your eyes. IMotions processes the input from the monitor to analyze two key factors: How often are you blinking, and what are your pupils doing? Essentially, pupil dilation and a faster-than normal blink rate can indicate that you're excited – iMotions prefers to use the terms "engaged" or "involved" – by what you're seeing. The company's pitch is that by showing a new product design, package, or advertisement to consumers earlier in the creative process, and tuning in to this kind of "precognitive" response, companies can figure out what will resonate with consumers more quickly and less expensively than with traditional research. (A sample group of about 30 peo ple is necessary for good statistical results, Hartzbech says.)