Product category:
Web measurement, analytics
News Release from: Realeyes Data Services | Subject: Realeyes eye-tracking technology
Edited by the Marketingservicestalk Editorial
Team on 20 February 2008
Eye-tracking technology optimises web
design
A new venture from MBAs at Said Business School, University of Oxford, optimises webpage and email design using state of the art eye-tracking technology.
Click data is the standard way of analysing web traffic to inform website design However, this data is a crude measure of customer behaviour as it does not indicate where the reader's attention was focused before the click was made
As online commerce continues to grow, and more of the transactions of life are conducted online, websites will strive to become more user-friendly and responsive to the customer's needs.
Two Oxford MBAs, Mihkel Jaatma and Niall Bellabarba, have launched Realeyes - a data provider that employs leading-edge eye-tracking technology to inform website design and marketing decision making.
Bellabarba commented: "This Christmas season, online sales soared to their highest level in UK with more than GBP3.7 bn being spent online in the four weeks running up to Christmas.
"Online represents now over 10 per cent of total UK retail and is only going to increase in real terms and as a proportion of overall sales.
"In looking at this market, it became clear that there is the need for more sophisticated means of monitoring consumer and user behaviour online, and that the traditional click information was inadequate.
"Using this technology, we have demonstrated that even small alterations to front-end design can significantly increase purchases of goods and services, and direct attention.
"Companies are quickly realising the impact this can have in terms of return on investment".
Jaatma added: "The business arose out of an Entrepreneurship Project we undertook on the MBA programme at Said.
"We focused the project around a proven technology with great growth potential.
"Eye-tracking has long been used in visual research but only very recently have the advances in technology made it viable for more widespread commercial use.
"Eye-tracking is set to become a mainstream tool for designers and developers to create more user-friendly and business focused web pages".
Realeyes collects the eye-tracking data with special monitors manufactured in Sweden.
It takes those devices to relevant target audiences specified by the clients and conducts the required analysis.
Large volumes of data are collected from a representational sample of the particular demographic group being analysed.
Early projects have required collection of data from a range of locations including bars, cafes, pubs, offices and client's stores.
Analysis is delivered via online reports that provide objective information for making better design and development decisions.
The range of companies to have signed up to Realeyes data services is impressive and the early feedback is very positive.
"Realeyes has demonstrated some very useful points about our websites - in particular where to place links to information in the page structure; we are now planning to undertake a number of comparisons during our page design phase to further optimise design", said Andy Harding, General Manager of Customer Interaction Group, Sony Corporation.
Nicholas Casey, website Manager of Pricerunner UK, added: "The Realeyes reports have been extremely useful in bringing real people closer to the design process because they provide a clear, honest picture of how those pages function from users' perspectives".
Jetinder Lali, Head of eBusiness in Barclays Global Investors, emphasised the competitive advantage that eye-tracking reports give to tested websites: "Eye-tracking gives one a competitive edge in user-centred design".
John Readman from Communicator Corp believes eye-tracking can be very useful in improving email communication: "Eye-tracking reports help to make sure that front-end design supports the business goals of our clients".
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