Retailers love the web.
Besides the obvious revenue benefits, a retailer can learn so much from e-commerce shoppers. By examining user navigation, abandoned shopping carts, clicks, and time spent on a web page, the reviews and product ratings tell a meaningful story.
In a brick and mortar environment, there are fitting room statistics, pinging of phones for traffic analysis and the “old school” people counters at the front door.
But what do we know about the customers reaction to their experience? What are they appreciating and what is their opinion of your store? Where is the like button for their in-store involvement?
It seems as though science may be on the verge of understanding human emotions, objectively and non-intrusively.
Face Recognition
No too long ago I wrote an article about Face Recognition software and its retail applications. That emerging technology allows anyone to identify a person merely by digitizing a photographing of them, and searching a data base of previously stored images. The algorithms are extremely accurate and relatively inexpensive. They are embedded in most consumer photo editing software and are being used commercially in a wide range of functions.
Now it seems there is a newly developed technology that will allow anyone to detect your reaction and disposition, using nothing more than your photo.
This advancement in mood recognition, comes from a most unexpected place.
Dr. Kang Lee, with the Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study is a behavioral psychologist. The research that led to this technology was the result of his work with children, and their struggle with truth and lies. As Dr Kang points out, regardless of how precious you believe your child to be, lying is a natural behavior. He goes on to explain that the telling of non-truths is an important part of child’s development process.
Transdermal Optical Identification
He devised an experiment putting a child in a situation whereby telling a lie would result in the receipt of a reward. Afterwards, the children were asked if they cheated on the experiment and their reactions video taped.
Their responses were shown to a group of adults who were asked if they thought the child was either telling the truth, or being dishonest. A wide range of viewers were used, including teachers, judges, police officers and even their own parents. It turned out that none of these groups did any better than you might expect from just pure chance. That is, they all judged the events incorrectly approximately 50% of the time. Facial expressions and body language provided no discernible clues.
The research team then studied the children on a much deeper level.
Literally.
We have all at some time felt the warm blush of blood flow to our face when we were embarrassed, or felt anxiety. Well apparently there is a much more subtle blood flow dynamic when we lie, feel stress or doubt, or most any mood change.
These variations are impossible to detect with the human eye, but heat sensing photography can record them.
Dr. Lee developed what he calls Transdermal Optical Identification, the ability to detect and record subtle flow changes beneath the skin. These non-invasive psychophysical methods can be performed using a regular camera, and does not have to be done in real time. All thats needed is Dr. Lee’s detection software applied to the existing imaging.
The initial studies indicated that blood flow to the cheeks diminished, but flow to the nasal area increased, when telling a lie. Other, different changes are detected when subjects are stressed, or feel joy or excitement. The technology has an efficacy rate of 85% in predicting a subjects reactions.
Telling a lie, increases nasal blood flow and drains blood from the cheeks
If you are a retailer you probably see where this is going.
Pinging cell phones, RFID tags and face recognition can be used to track a shopper’s flow through the store. Fitting room software enables retailers to understand which garments shoppers find appealing. Other technologies are being developed to assist the retailer in gathering insight from their merchandise selection and store layout, without a sale ever have taking place, and without having to rely on disturbing the client.
Transdermal Optical Identification, may soon be included in the retailers analytic tool set.
What can it do for you?
Using this approach, in real time or after the fact, in an aggregated form, has potential to produce a treasure trove of invaluable data. You might think of this as the like/dislike button on Facebook, except there is no user subjectivity involved here. Reactions are all pure and honest. Additionally, the results are not binary. Not only can a specific reaction be detected, but the intensity of the emotion can also be recorded.
Consider what you might be able to do if you could capture shopper reaction in every area of the store, and while reviewing a category of product. Retailers would then understand which merchandise, which displays, and which areas in the store yield positive feedback and which generate negativity or confusion.
The rewards in better merchandise selection, store layout, window display and potentially CRM, could be hugely significant.
Other areas of interest might be Loss Prevention. Did that customer returning those shoes never really wear it as they claim? Was that item being returned without a receipt actually purchased in your store? Is that employee responsible for some of your back door shrink? Is that really that shoppers credit card?
Face recognition and Transdermal Identification are two new exciting ways to understand your shoppers. As they say, beauty is skin deep, but shopper insights go much deeper.