Leveraging consumer neuroscience and analytics for crisis-driven international marketing strategies: insights from the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose – The key success factor during any crisis relies on behaviour and requires an innovative approach. The objective of this research is to explore the potential of Consumer Neuroscience in uncovering hidden behavioural drivers that could serve as a base for the segmentation model as a decision-making tool for international marketing strategies. Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a dual-level measurement, capturing both explicit and implicit data through a response time testing solution, the iCode Test. A dedicated, 10-item questionnaire on people’s opinions on the COVID-19 pandemic was developed for the purpose of the study. The obtained data served as the basis of segmentation. Findings – The findings reveal how culture can shape crisis-related attitudes, presenting a segmentation model that identifies four consumer clusters: Health Worriers (worried about health), Overwhelmed with Worries, Unconcerned, and Financial Worriers (worried about money). Each segment was interpreted through the lens of response patterns across 10 questionnaire statements. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to the context of Portugal. It would be relevant to extend the analysis to other countries to enforce insights and increase the robustness of the proposed framework. Practical implications – The COVID-19 pandemic triggered new challenges to global consumer behaviour, calling for an innovation in understanding consumer attitudes and shaping international marketing strategies. The research not only provides in-depth insights on the development of more targeted and effective international marketing strategies, informed by deeper, data-driven consumer insights, but also practical guidance on how they can be effectively designed. Originality/value – By providing evidence from Portugal during the lockdown, this study offers unique data to analyse the influence of culture on attitudes and valuable insights for both practitioners and researchers. While international marketing theory has been extensively investigated within the context of traditional research, there is a relatively limited understanding of hidden behavioural drivers. Thanks to Consumer Neuroscience, a new perspective goes beyond rational self-reporting to investigate deeper, unconscious convictions that people may not even be fully aware of, and which cannot be captured by traditional opinion surveys.