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Expectancy Violation

Expectancy Violation Test

How well do elements of a presentation, value proposition, or product concept "fit together" with a consumer's prior beliefs and expectations?

What It Measures

A specific wave pattern in the brain emerges when one stimulus (verbal, visual, sensory) follows another and the second is unexpected after experiencing the first.

Expectancy violation is a an alerting mechanism, related to attention, that informs the brain when something is not quite right. Although it is generally not accompanied by a felt sense of positive or negative valence, it can inhibit further processing of the incongruent stimulus.  It signals a potential problem in pairing the stimuli together.

Use It To ...

  • Understand whether a message or package fits a brand image
  • Measure whether a landing page meets expectations promised by an online ad
  • Measure ad copy transitions for consistency and comprehension
  • Determine at what point price resistance occurs
  • See whether a GUI design flow makes sense

How We Report Results

  • Waveform comparison at target electrodes
  • Standardized congruence-incongruence scores for paired stimuli and transitions on a 0-10 scale

Underlying Science

  • Event-related potentials (ERP)
 

Get Creative

Directly measure unfiltered reactions to new messages and concepts.

Work Faster

Determine whether a product or marketing concept is working much earlier in the development process.

Choose Smarter

Calibrate and fine-tune concepts to rapidly eliminate what doesn't work and focus on what does.