2020 Vision: Five Trends Driving the Future of Eye Tracking Research

Like most marketing research and UX techniques, eye tracking exists in a state of constant evolution. I have been lucky enough to witness firsthand how the methods and technology have improved during my fifteen years in the field. The systems have become smaller/lighter/better, the software more flexible, the study designs less intrusive, and the insights more actionable. It’s now easier than ever to see the world through the eyes of the consumer and use that data to build better experiences. The progress has been incredible, and yet it is a certainty that eye tracking will continue to evolve. In this blog post, I’d like to take a look at five of the primary factors that are driving this technique into the future.

#1: New Protocols for Safe, Effective In-Person Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted literally everything, including marketing and UX research. Traditionally eye tracking has been an in-person approach that involves close contact between participants and a moderator at a retail store or CLT facility, so of course, there have been questions about how to conduct these studies safely. In the past six months, eye tracking vendors have developed new protocols for participant recruiting, equipment cleaning, fielding PPE usage, calibration of eye trackers, and socially distanced moderating. These changes enable the collection of in-person eye tracking data safely, while still capturing powerful data about consumer attention. I expect that many of these changes to fielding protocol will be maintained, even after the pandemic is under control.

#2: Naturalistic, Unmoderated In-Home Research

When I first began my career in eye tracking, an experienced technician was present at every study because the hardware was finicky and sometimes difficult to calibrate. Improvements in eye tracker portability and ease-of-use have created a space for a new approach in which participants self-collect data in their home environment. Eye trackers (typically wearable “glasses” systems) are sent to each participant, and they receive a quick online training to enable them to record their attention and experience with the targeted products, apps, platforms, devices, or any other stimuli. Data collected in this way provides a level of validity that simply cannot be replicated in a central location testing facility or mock living room environment. We are witnessing a sharp uptick in companies interested in studying attention in this purely natural way, including advertisers, media producers, software developers, and CPG creators. These companies have discovered that studying the consumer or user experience in the customer’s own home provides a deeper understanding of perception and behavior than is possible in a lab setting. For examples of in-home studies and to learn more about the benefits of conducting eye tracking in this environment, watch our webinar called, “Consumers in Their Natural Habitat: Studying Behavior with In-Home Eye Tracking Research”

#3 Webcam Eye Tracking!

Access to an eye tracking system has traditionally been a “must” to run an eye tracking study. But aside from a few hardcore gamers, almost nobody has their own high-accuracy eye tracking system at home, which is why this methodology has mostly been employed in-person at research facilities. But in the past few years, advances in webcam quality and cloud-based software have made it possible to capture eye tracking data from consenting participants using their own webcams to track attention. For simple package design, webpage, and advertising tests it is an ideal solution for creating large quantitative eye tracking data sets quickly and at a low cost. There are still some limitations to this approach (short sessions, lower accuracy, best for simple A vs. B tests), but the availability of webcam eye tracking is driving a vibrant new subgenre of online attention research methods. We’re excited to see where this goes! Additional information may be found here in our webinar called “Moving Your Research Online: A Solution for Eye Tracking Studies.”

#4 Mobile-first approach to UX and Ecommerce

Many of the foundational studies that brought eye tracking to prominence revolved around usability testing of homepages during the dotcom boom of the early 2000s. Since that time, eye tracking testing has been a major component of usability and user experience. In the last five years as mobile device usage has skyrocketed, so too has the interest in studying attention on mobile devices. There has been a gradual shift from desktop-only research to desktop + mobile and now to primarily mobile eye tracking studies. Requests for testing of traditional website experiences have become far less frequent as our clients have turned their focus to providing the most engaging and efficient smartphone experience.

#5 An Integrated Approach to Consumer Attention

Eye tracking does not answer all research questions. It is best employed as a complementary methodology along with other types of qualitative, behavioral, and neuromarketing tools. More companies today have come to this realization and have begun using eye tracking in a way that optimizes the depth of insights. Building a study that provides heat maps is fine, but building a study that adds a Retrospective Think-Aloud interview, Galvanic skin response data, and a quantitative survey to those heat maps is going to provide a much more complete picture of consumer behavior because you’re able to examine not just what they see, but what they think, feel, say and do. We’re encouraged to see that for many companies eye tracking has moved from an isolated niche add-on to a fully integrated staple of their research approach.

The five trends outlined here are truly exciting developments in the world of eye tracking. With continued technological improvements, a growing body of informative research studies, and a whole industry of talented professionals building new methods and best practices, the future looks bright!

Hero image courtesy of Tobii Pro