Time to pay attention to attention: using attention-based process traces to better understand consumer decision-making

Abstract

This paper examines consumers’ attention traces (e.g., sequences of eye fixations and saccades) during choice. Due to reduced equipment cost and increased ease of analysis, attention traces can reflect a more fine-grained representation of decision-making activities (e.g., formation of a consideration set, alternative evaluation, and decision strategies). Besides enabling a better understanding of actual consumer choice, attention traces support more complex models of choice, and point to the prospects of specific interventions at various stages of the choice process. We identify and discuss promising areas for future research.