Leveraging Neuromarketing for Marketing Success

While the term neuromarketing may sound complex, it’s part of the advertisements you see every day. Coca-Cola and Frito-Lay’s branding are two of the most famous neuromarketing examples. By studying this topic and learning a few neuromarketing tips, you can improve your marketing strategies and create more effective campaigns like the world’s most powerful brands.  

What Is Neuromarketing?

Neuromarketing is a rapidly growing field that combines neuroscience, psychology, and marketing to understand what truly influences consumer behavior. When you view an advertisement, the content stimulates neural activities in your brain. An ad could surprise or bore you, stimulate laughter, or make you cry.

Neuromarketing utilizes advanced tools to examine how your brain responds to marketing and uncover the factors that drive your decisions. Once marketers understand how an ad influences your behavior, they can steer you more effectively toward making a purchase.

Learn more about this exciting concept with our neuromarketing course. You’ll learn use scientifically proven strategies to escalate your business using neuromarketing.

Neuromarketing Techniques

Let’s explore some common neuromarketing techniques.

Eye-Tracking

Eye-tracking involves monitoring a participant’s eye movements to determine where they look, what catches their attention, and how long their gaze lingers. Researchers typically use glasses, a webcam, a stationary tracker, or a virtual reality (VR) headset during the study. Afterward, they review the participants’ eye movements to assess their reactions to the advertisement.

EEG

Electroencephalography (EEG) measures a person’s brain activity to see how they react to an advertisement. Researchers attach a cap with sensors to the individual’s head, show them marketing materials, and observe which parts of the brain become active. This provides marketers with valuable insights into reactions, emotional responses, and first impressions.

Facial Coding

Most people wear their emotions on their faces, often without realizing it. However, subtle changes in facial expression are harder to detect.

Facial coding involves carefully studying a person’s face as they watch an advertisement and using the information to determine their reaction. With this data, marketers can release the assets or make adjustments until they’re more appealing.

fMRI

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tracks blood flow in the brain. During the study, researchers look for changes in blood flow that indicate neural activity. This gives them detailed information about the participant’s reaction to the marketing materials.

Neuromarketing Examples in Action

When Frito-Lay noticed women didn’t buy chips as often as men, the company used neuromarketing to find out why. Their research revealed that women have stronger decision-making skills, higher emotional intelligence, and increased feelings of guilt. These factors could make women less likely to indulge in junk food. As a result, Frito-Lay redesigned its packaging to highlight healthier ingredients, such as spices and vegetables. This makes Frito-Lay look like a safe alternative to the competition, encouraging women to buy its products. Customers might not actively register the ingredients on the package, but their minds subconsciously gravitate toward food that boosts their self-esteem.

Coca-Cola is another brand that uses neuromarketing to its advantage. In a famous study, people were given Coke and Pepsi while their brains were scanned using fMRI.  When they didn’t know which one they were drinking, many liked Pepsi more, and it triggered the brain’s pleasure center. But when they were told they were drinking Coca-Cola, most said they preferred it—even if they were actually drinking Pepsi. Their brains showed activity in areas linked to memories and emotions. This showed that strong branding, like Coca-Cola’s, can influence people’s choices more than the actual taste.  

Neuromarketing Tips for Marketers (Course-Inspired & Practical)

Based on the 10 powerful strategies from Udemy’s Neuromarketing: Applied Neuroscience to Grow Your Business course, like pricing, colors, dopamine, headlines, and layout, here are practical tips that you can implement today without needing expensive equipment or complex setups:

1. Visual hierarchy & attention flow
Arrange your visuals and headlines so viewers’ eyes land exactly where you want, usually your headline or call to action (CTA).
Try this: Build a mockup of your landing page. Show it to a friend and ask: “Where does your eye go first?” This helps you replicate what top brands do naturally.

2. Color to evoke emotion
Colors influence feelings. Use blue for trust, red for urgency, and green for calm.
Simple test: Try A/B testing your CTA buttons with different colors and track the difference in clicks.

3. Dopamine triggers with micro-rewards
Celebrate small wins. After a user signs up, show a checkmark or confetti with a message like “You’re in!” You can also use progress bars in onboarding; our brains love that little hit of satisfaction.

4. Neuromarketing headlines
Hook people with a blend of curiosity and value. Example: “How to triple conversions with brain science” This taps into the headline psychology you learn in the course.

5. Pricing psychology
Use a charm pricing format, such as $19.99, instead of $20.

6. Ad efficiency improvement
Run simple A/B tests on your ads, changing one variable (headline, image, or CTA), and observe which one performs better. This strategy helps improve results without increasing spend.

7. Emotion-led visuals and user stories
Instead of talking about your product, show someone using it. For example: “Maria felt beautiful on her wedding day thanks to our skincare kit.” Stories tap into emotional neuroscience, creating stronger connections.

8. Eye-focusing layout
Place your most crucial information (headline, benefit, CTA) in the visual “hot zones” of your design, typically at the top-left, center, or near faces. Simply shifting placement can significantly boost performance.

9. Urgency & scarcity (used ethically)
Messages like “Only 3 spots left” or countdown timers help nudge action without pressure. This is a safe way to use FOMO to drive engagement.

These tips don’t require a neuroscience lab, just some curiosity, testing, and empathy. And when you combine these with solid fundamentals from the course, your marketing becomes not only smarter but truly customer-centered.

Benefits of Learning Neuromarketing

Customers aren’t always honest about their feelings — they might not even understand themselves. Neuromarketing provides a direct link to the subconscious, allowing you to observe their impressions, responses, and emotional reactions. You’ll use this information for a variety of projects, including:

• Refining a package design
• Refreshing your website
• Developing a commercial
• Choosing a spokesperson
• Testing an experimental marketing technique
• Advertising on social media
• Telling your brand story

Neuromarketing doesn’t just tap into a generic audience. You can study specific demographics and adjust your marketing strategy to target your audience. This attracts customers you might otherwise miss.

While neuromarketing has been around for decades, it’s experienced a surge in popularity in recent years. In 2024, the market size reached an impressive $520 million. Experts expect the market to reach $2,790 million by 2034 and experience an 18.29% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). If you’re interested in sales psychology, this is a great time to enter the field.

The Future of Neuromarketing

The future of neuromarketing is promising and increasingly data-driven. As technology becomes more affordable and accessible, tools like eye-tracking, facial coding, and AI-powered emotion analysis are transitioning from research labs to mainstream marketing teams. Brands will be able to personalize experiences in real time based on emotional and cognitive responses, creating deeper, more meaningful engagement.

We’ll also see ethical neuromarketing gain importance, prioritizing transparency, consent, and responsible use of brain-based data. Combined with AI and big data, neuromarketing will shift from isolated experiments to continuous, scalable insights across digital channels. In short, marketers who understand how the brain works won’t just react to trends—they’ll help shape them.

Neuromarketing and Career Advancement

Learning neuromarketing can significantly boost your career by equipping you with a rare and valuable combination of skills that blend psychology, neuroscience, and marketing. It allows you to influence strategic decisions, drive better campaign results, and stand out as a high-impact contributor. You might use your knowledge to fine-tune an advertising strategy, design a website that generates more conversions, build a more powerful brand, or create a heartwarming commercial that makes viewers tear up.

Neuromarketing courses give you a competitive edge. They provide advanced knowledge that helps you succeed in a wide range of advertising industries, including food, beverage, apparel, makeup, travel, and pharmaceuticals.

Next Steps: Udemy’s Neuromarketing Courses

Neuromarketing is the future of sales psychology. These techniques help you discover insights that customers would never reveal on their own, taking your campaigns to the next level. Neuromarketing classes and certifications can help you become a sought-after expert who empowers businesses to increase their profits. Get started today with Neuromarketing: Applied Neuroscience to Grow Your Business. This course teaches you how to utilize colors, write compelling headlines, create a sense of need, set prices, and make your advertisements a source of dopamine. Afterward, browse these neuromarketing courses to expand your skill set. You can complete many of these courses in a few days or less.