Clip or Click? NeuroFocus Study Shows Online Coupons Top Print in Effectiveness - But Adding a New Branded Element Reverses the Results

Brainwave-Based Research Reveals First-Ever Analysis of How Consumers Respond to
Coupons at the Deep Subconscious Level
BERKELEY, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
As the economy drives millions more consumers to use coupons, and online coupon
sites report record traffic, manufacturers and retailers seek to know: which is
more effective, print or web-based versions?

NeuroFocus, the world`s leading neuromarketing company, announced the results of
the first research that examines consumer responses to coupons at the deep
subconscious level of the brain. The findings carry significant implications for
marketers as coupon use accelerates across many demographics.

NeuroFocus` study analyzed consumers` brainwave activity and combined those
findings with eye tracking and galvanic skin response measurements to arrive at
results that reveal how print and online coupons fared in three primary
neurological measurements:

Key Neurological Metrics:

Attention

Emotional Engagement

Memory Retention

And three additional Market Performance Indicator metrics derived from the
KNM`s:

Market Performance Indicators:

Purchase Intent

Novelty

Awareness

Overall Findings:

Online coupons have significantly stronger potential appeal to consumers than
print coupons

The research shows that across the board, the online version of a coupon
outperformed the print version, by wide margins in almost every one of the
neurometrics categories. Only in Memory Retention were the two coupon types
close, and even there the online version still held a significant advantage.

NeuroFocus Key NeuroMetrics:
(Ranked on a 0-10 scale, where a difference of +/- 0.2 is significant)

Attention Emotional Engagement Memory Retention
Print: 5.5 5.6 7.4
Online: 7.1 6.9 7.6

NeuroFocus combined the Key Neurometrics figures to develop an overall
Neurological Effectiveness score, and the online coupon beat the print version
by a large differential:

Effectiveness
Print: 6.2
Online: 7.0

NeuroFocus Market Performance Indicator Scores:
(Ranked on a 0-10 scale, where a difference of +/- 0.2 is significant)

Purchase Intent Awareness Novelty
Print: 7.2 6.3 7.1
Online: 7.9 7.6 8.0

Deep Subconscious Response To Messaging:

Online coupons correspond more strongly with "savings" than print coupons do

NeuroFocus tested for consumers` subconscious responses to two key
coupon-related messaging concepts--"convenient" and "savings". The brainwaves
and biometrics test results scored print and online coupons as even in the
"convenient" category:

(Rankings range in descending order High/Strong/Moderate/Mild/Low/None)

Convenient
Print: Mild
Online: Mild

But the "savings" category showed online coupons gaining another major
advantage:

Savings
Print: Moderate
Online: Strong

Adding a New Branded Element Reverses the Results, and Produces a Clear
Direction for Print to Prevail

NeuroFocus` research revealed a potentially powerful avenue for print coupons to
overtake the online alternative, however.

The company created a new "branded element" and added it to both print and
online coupons, to determine if the addition would have any effect on consumers`
subconscious responses. The results were striking.

When this new branded element, which NeuroFocus is keeping proprietary for
competitive reasons, was included in both versions the overall Effectiveness
score was virtually reversed. With this new element, consumers preferred the
print coupon over the online version by almost the same margin that the earlier
test had produced for online over print:

Attention Emotional Engagement Memory Retention
New branded element/Print: 6.4 6.6 8.2
New branded element/Online: 6.5 5.6 6.8
Effectiveness:
New branded element/Print: 6.9
New branded element/Online: 6.0

This new branded element also produced the highest scores of all in several
individual categories, including the critically important Memory Retention,
Purchase Intent, and Novelty sectors.

Purchase Intent Awareness Novelty
New branded element/Print: 8.0 7.3 8.7
New branded element/Online: 6.3 6.0 7.2

"Our research gives companies the first clear understanding of how consumers
respond to coupons where it really counts: deep inside their subconscious
minds," said Dr. A. K. Pradeep, Chief Executive Officer of NeuroFocus.
"Neuroscience has proven that that is the level where product interest, purchase
intent, and brand loyalty are really formed."

"The fundamental difference between this research and others is that measuring
brainwave responses results in factual findings, not interpretations of what
consumers say they think or feel about coupons," Dr. Pradeep said. "As our Chief
Science Advisor Dr. Robert Knight, one of the world`s preeminent
neuroscientists, explains, `the brain makes behavior.` With these results,
companies now know the critical differences in subconscious responses across the
categories that determine behavior, so they can make the most fully-informed
strategic marketing decisions when it comes to couponing."

Definitions:

Key NeuroMetrics:

Attention: the degree of cognitive interest

Emotional Engagement: the degree of affective response

Memory Retention: The degree of memory encoding and learning involved

Market Performance Indicators:

Purchase Intent: The degree to which purchase/viewing intent has been formed

Awareness: The degree of messaging comprehension and understanding

Novelty: The ability to stand out in the clutter; and form defenses against
competitive messages

About NeuroFocus

NeuroFocus Inc. is the leader in bringing neuroscience knowledge and expertise
to the worlds of advertising, marketing, product development and packaging, and
entertainment. The company leverages Doctorate-level academic credentials in
neuroscience and marketing from Berkeley, MIT, Harvard, and the Hebrew
University combined with C-suite level business management and consulting
experience.

NeuroFocus clients include Fortune 100 companies across dozens of categories,
including automotive, consumer packaged goods, food and beverage, financial
services, Internet, retail, and many more sectors. Entertainment category
clients include major companies in the broadcast and cable television and motion
picture industries. The Nielsen Company is a strategic investor in NeuroFocus.

NeuroFocus Inc.
Tom Robbins, 510-526-9882
tom.robbins@neurofocus.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009