Updated October 28, 2026.
Short answer: Neuromarketing applies findings from psychology and brain research to how people choose. Five effects with solid published evidence are useful to marketers: brand expectations changing perceived taste, the decoy effect, social norms, prices ending in 9, and choice overload, though the last replicates inconsistently. Use them to make choices clearer, not to trick people.
1. Brand changes the experience itself: the Coke and Pepsi study
In a 2004 study published in Neuron, McClure and colleagues scanned people drinking Coke and Pepsi. In blind tasting, preferences were roughly split. When people knew they were drinking Coke, preference shifted toward it and brain areas linked to memory and associations became more active. The lesson: a brand is not a label added after the product. It changes how the product is perceived.
How to use it: invest in consistent cues (packaging, tone, sound, service) that build positive associations over time. See brand storytelling techniques.
2. The decoy effect: the subscription example
Dan Ariely described an Economist offer with three options: web only, print only, and print plus web at the same price as print only. Almost nobody chose print only, but its presence pushed most students toward the bundle. When the decoy was removed in his experiment, more people chose the cheaper web-only option.
How to use it: design pricing tiers so the plan you want most people on is clearly the best value compared with its neighbor.
3. Social norms beat generic appeals: the hotel towel study
Goldstein, Cialdini and Griskevicius (2008) tested hotel cards asking guests to reuse towels. A message saying most guests reused their towels outperformed the standard environmental appeal, and a message about guests who had stayed in the same room did even better.
How to use it: show what people like your customer actually do: reviews from the same industry, usage numbers, customer stories.
4. Prices ending in 9
Anderson and Simester (2003) ran field experiments with a mail-order clothing catalog. Items priced ending in $9 sold more than the same items at slightly lower prices. People read the left digit first and treat 9 endings as a signal of a deal.
How to use it: charm pricing suits value positioning. Premium brands often use round numbers to signal quality instead.
5. Too many choices can stall decisions
Iyengar and Lepper’s 2000 jam study found shoppers were more likely to buy when offered 6 flavors than 24. Later meta-analyses show the effect is real in some conditions but not universal: it depends on how hard the choice is and how well people know what they want.
How to use it: group options, highlight a recommended choice and use filters rather than simply cutting your range.
Ethics: where persuasion turns into manipulation
Fake scarcity, hidden costs and pre-ticked boxes are dark patterns that regulators in the EU, UK and US actively pursue. A useful test: would the customer feel misled if they saw how the page was designed?
Bottom line: Neuromarketing is most useful as a source of ideas to test. Treat neuromarketing findings as a starting point, then confirm them with your own customers before you scale them. Used this way, neuromarketing makes testing smarter.
Frequently asked questions
Is neuromarketing the same as brain scanning?
Brain imaging and eye tracking are research methods within it. Most practical neuromarketing uses findings from behavioral psychology that need no scanner.
Do these effects work online?
Mostly yes, but test them. Effects found in one setting often shrink in another.
Sources
- McClure, S. M. et al. (2004). Neural correlates of behavioral preference for culturally familiar drinks. Neuron, 44(2).
- Ariely, D. (2008). Predictably Irrational. HarperCollins.
- Goldstein, N. J., Cialdini, R. B., Griskevicius, V. (2008). A room with a viewpoint. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(3).
- Anderson, E. T., Simester, D. I. (2003). Effects of $9 price endings on retail sales. Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 1.
- Iyengar, S. S., Lepper, M. R. (2000). When choice is demotivating. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6).
