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Summary
In this session, Mike, an experienced behavioral researcher and PhD candidate, explores applying mixed methods research combined with behavioral science principles to e-commerce and UX studies. He explains the importance of understanding human behavior through both quantitative and qualitative approaches, highlighting the psychological and subconscious factors influencing user actions. Mike delves into biometric tools such as eye tracking, EEG, and facial coding to analyze attention, motivation, and emotional valence during website interactions. Using real examples, he illustrates how these measures reveal user engagement, cognitive load, and friction points—especially evident in complex tasks like checkouts. Mike stresses the ethical considerations in behavioral research and advises triangulating biometric data with surveys, interviews, and analytics to form testable hypotheses and drive optimizations. In conversation with Paula and the audience, Mike addresses nuances in measuring cognitive load, cultural and neurodiversity impacts, and the challenges in interpreting biometric data accurately. Overall, his approach prioritizes meaningful, actionable insights that improve website performance and marketing ROI through continual experimentation and evidence-based iteration.
Key Insights
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Mixed methods research combining quantitative and qualitative techniques yields richer insights into user behavior and motivation.
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Biometric tools like eye tracking, EEG, and facial expression analysis enable observation beyond conscious user reports.
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Users’ attention is influenced by both bottom-up (environment-driven) and top-down (executive) processes occurring simultaneously.
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Emotional responses to stimuli, such as viewing faces or cute animals, can be reliably detected through facial coding tied to valence metrics.
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Prefrontal cortex asymmetry detected via EEG indicates approach or avoidance motivation, signaling user engagement or withdrawal.
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Cognitive load increases when tasks are complex or confusing, often correlating with user drop-offs in e-commerce checkouts.
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Triangulating biometric data with self-reports, heatmaps, and analytics strengthens interpretation and validity.
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Ethical considerations and pre-screening participants (for neurodiversity, epilepsy, etc.) are critical when deploying neuroscience tools.
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Experiments based on behavioral science principles can be tested and iterated using A/B and multivariate testing to optimize conversion.
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Balancing simplicity and motivation in website design improves user adoption of desired behaviors and enhances KPIs.
Notable Quotes
"Marketing is psychology; to sell, you need to know how people think and feel."
"People remember how you made them feel more than what you said."
"Eye tracking first fixation shows salience but not necessarily sustained attention."
"Facial coding AI isn't smart enough to know if someone is smiling because they're happy or uncomfortable."
"The part of the brain we're aware of is like the press release office, not the Oval Office where decisions are made."
"When cognitive load is high, people blink less because their brain is working harder."
"Using animals or faces in adverts triggers strong emotional reactions due to our programmed social cues."
"If CTAs and tasks are easy to perform, people are much more likely to do them."
"Changes to a website nobody sees won’t move the needle; focus on high traffic and drop-off areas first."
"Good research has to be evidence-based, customized, tangible, and ethical to be valuable."
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