TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - Jul 18, 2017) - ModiFace, the leading provider of augmented reality technology to the beauty industry, which recently made a breakthrough in the precise video-based tracking of eye gaze location, is today releasing insights in partnership with Smashbox Cosmetics on the impact of Eye Tracking for mobile beauty apps. Earlier this month, Smashbox became ModiFace's exclusive partner for the popular iOS app MAKEUP, which now uniquely features Smashbox products. MAKEUP features ModiFace's latest face tracking and video makeup rendering technology, along with a unique ability to track the location on the screen that the user is looking at based on their video. Eye gaze location provides insights into the specific locations and user interfaces that users look at, and also provides brands an opportunity to act based on the user's gaze actions with the goal of increasing conversions.
A demo of the experience can be viewed here:
ModiFace used eye tracking for two purposes with the MAKEUP iOS application. First, the location which users were looking at was used to create a heat map of the areas on the screen that receive more attention. This heat map can provide insights into what user experiences work best, and what features users are most interested in. "There are times when users think about a particular shade but would not tap a product or take any action. Eye tracking provides a deeper level of insight into what users are thinking about by measuring what they are looking at," said Parham Aarabi, Founder and CEO of ModiFace who was closely involved with the development of the new Eye Tracking technology.
"We are delighted by our partnership with ModiFace for the MAKEUP application. Not only is it driving usage, try-ons, and customer visits to our site, but ModiFace and Smashbox are doing something very unique here. We are experimenting with technologies that will make shopping for beauty products easier and more convenient for the consumer," said Brynn Nakamoto, Smashbox Cosmetics.
An interesting use of eye tracking within the MAKEUP app was to analyze and act on the specific products that users where focusing on. The definition of "focus" consisted of the following user actions:
1. A user first looks at a swatch for a product at the bottom of the screen
2. She then selects a shade to try it on her own video
3. She then spends at least 2 seconds to look at and read the name of the product at the top of the screen
Looking at the specific products that users focused on, it was determined that the most popular product category was Smashbox's Always On Liquid Lipstick (whose products represented 49% of all products focused on by users). Within this category, the most popular shades were Babe Alert, Girl Gang, Miss Conduct, and Bawse. A similar analysis was performed for other product categories, including the second most popular category which was Smashbox's Cover Shot Eye Palettes whose products represented 12% of all products focused on by users.
A deeper analysis was performed on 8,819 mobile users divided into two groups. For one set of users, a call to action button for purchasing products was permanently placed visibly near the top of the page regardless of the user's gaze location. For the second set of users the call to action button was hidden and only displayed when the user tried on and read the name of the product. It was observed that the conversion rate increased from 6.2% when gaze was not included to 7.9% when the call to action button was displayed after the user had finished reading the name of the product as determined by eye gaze. This represented a 27% conversion increase attributed primarily to the eye gaze-based interface.
"What is most exciting is that this is just the start. We are determined to ensure MAKEUP will always be the most innovative mobile iOS application for beauty augmented reality. And to make this happen, we have a number of experimental technologies and capabilities that we will be testing jointly with our partners at Smashbox cosmetics over the coming year," said Parham Aarabi.
To download makeup, please visit:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/makeup/id314603460
ABOUT SMASHBOX
We live for lipstick. Get excited about primers. (No, seriously, we do.) But mostly, we love sharing our makeup secrets with you. Why? Because creativity and collaboration are at the core of our DNA. We are the only brand born out of a legendary photo studio -- Smashbox Studios in L.A. -- where major photographers, celebrities and makeup artists converge to create iconic images every day. We know your lives can be as crazy demanding as our shoots, where our products must look beautiful AND outperform under hot lights, wind machines and countless wardrobe changes. So our mission is to develop makeup that solves problems, looks flawless in every kind of light and feels great to wear every day -- from the set to the streets. It's all about being your most kickass beautiful self at Smashbox.
ABOUT MODIFACE
ModiFace is the leading creator of intelligent augmented reality technology for the beauty industry, providing customizable AR try-on capability for web/ecommerce, mobile, in-store, and messaging. ModiFace's patented technology, which is based on over a decade of research at Stanford University, powers over 200 custom augmented reality apps for beauty brands such as Sephora, Estée Lauder Companies, Allergan, L'Oreal, Unilever, and Coty. For more information, visit http://www.modiface.com.
Contact Information:
Regan Austin
Uproar PR for ModiFace
321-236-0102 x233