Facial emotion tracking for retailers

With this technology, retailers are able to track costumers’ emotions in order to gain a better understanding of their shopping decisions

Retailers are investing in different technologies to increase footfall, have a better consumer understanding and gain shoppers’ loyalty. According to a recent study carried out by Nielsen, shoppers tend to spend up to 15 seconds at a shelf and over 67% of buying decisions are made at the point of purchase.

In order to make the most of those 15 seconds, retailers are implementing facial emotion tracking technology to gain more accurate and real-time data about their shoppers’ interactions with products, salespeople and the store.

One of the companies leading this sector is Emotient, which has developed a technology that can detect and track the seven facial expressions of primary emotions which are joy, surprise, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and contempt. Emotient also identify overall sentiments (such as positive, neutral and negative) and more advanced emotions such as frustration and confusion. It also detects 19 elementary facial muscle movements.

By using this technology, retailers are able to detect how costumers react to signs, product displays and interactions with sales associates.

How does it work?

This type of technology is based on facial coding, which focuses on the analysis of involuntary facial expressions that are connected to core emotions. With this technology, retailers are able to measure Attention, Emotional Engagement and Sentiment, with an average level of accuracy of 95% and the results are independent of gender and ethnicity.

How does it benefit retailers?

The primary benefit is the opportunity to learn more about the consumer’s state of mind as they emotionally respond to marketing, product and service experiences. With facial emotion tracking technologies, retailers are able to know more about customer sentiment, adapt offers based on how customers are feeling, or identify if someone needs help when looking at a product.

The amount of insights that companies can get from the use of this technology are unmeasurable and will lead to better marketing and business decisions.