The study gathers insights into the impact of eye tracking for beauty mobile apps, and the findings can be used as an opportunity to act based on the user’s gaze, with the goal of increasing conversions.
Cosmetics brand Smashbox teamed up with augmented reality company ModiFace for the research, and the companies describe the findings as ‘a breakthrough in the precise video-based tracking of eye gaze location’.
“ModiFace and Smashbox are doing something very unique here. We are experimenting with technologies that will make shopping for beauty products easier and more convenient for the consumer," said Brynn Nakamoto, Smashbox Cosmetics.
Why track?
According to ModiFace, tracking eye movements during m-commerce can offer two key insights. Firstly, it reveals the location users are giving most attention to on any given page or screen. Secondly, it can reveal which user experiences work best and gain most user interest.
"There are times when users think about a particular shade but would not tap a product or take any action. Eye tracking provides a deeper level of insight into what users are thinking about by measuring what they are looking at," said Parham Aarabi, Founder and CEO of ModiFace who was closely involved with the development of the new technology used in the study.
What can be tracked?
The areas that users are focusing on are revealed by following their eye movements, say the companies.
Looking at the specific products that users focused on, the companies determined that the most popular product category was Smashbox's Always On Liquid Lipstick (whose products represented 49% of all products focused on by users).
Within this category, the most popular shades were Babe Alert, Girl Gang, Miss Conduct, and Bawse.
A similar analysis was performed for other product categories, the companies explain, including the second most popular category which was Smashbox's Cover Shot Eye Palettes whose products represented 12% of all products focused on by users.
Call to action increases conversion
In another part of the research, the impact of a prominently visible call to action button for purchasing options was considered.
The companies say they found that across 8,819 users divided into to two groups, there was a 27% conversion increase attributed primarily to the prominent call to action button in the eye gaze-based interface.