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Video Surveillance as a Marketing Tool with Xeoma Software: Analytics and Features

TL;DR: Xeoma turns video surveillance into a marketing tool: age, gender, emotion recognition, gaze tracking, visitor counting. It automates audience analysis, heatmaps, A/B tests. Xeoma supports 99% of cameras and runs on any OS. Easy setup, free trial.

Market research is a set of measures aimed at analyzing the market and market potential, such as the sales of a new product, primarily consisting of collecting various data on the business’s target audience. The ultimate goal of these studies can vary greatly depending on the company for which the marketing research is conducted and its objectives — however, in general, it all boils down to obtaining information that will help the business find new growth opportunities or minimize losses in operations. The tools for these marketing studies can be the most diverse — any means are good to provide the business with all the necessary data for choosing the right strategy. Xeoma uses the most modern Artificial Intelligence algorithms for accurate data collection.

And, surprisingly, modern video surveillance can become one such marketing tool. “Insiders” understand that this is quite logical: video surveillance systems are increasingly equipped with good cameras that, in a sense, can replace the human eye. Combined with advanced software that modern surveillance solutions often include, such systems can even “think,” analyzing what’s happening in the frame. Thanks to this, video surveillance can perform tasks far beyond simple security — for example, as a marketing tool for market research. Want to verify this? Let’s explore the marketing tools offered by Xeoma, a leader in video surveillance software.

Target audience research—that is, collecting information on age, gender, interests, and preferences of people — is one of the key tasks of marketing research, and video surveillance can help with this. Such data has unprecedented value, as it helps tailor the business or its specific strategy precisely to customers, minimizing risk of losses. What tools does Xeoma offer for target audience research?

Demographics: Xeoma’s “Age Recognizer” is a powerful video analytics tool based on artificial intelligence that collects statistics on the age of people in the camera’s field of view. This information allows businesses to adapt their offerings according to trends characteristic of specific age groups.

Demographics: Combined with age recognition, “Gender Recognition” is often used—a smart module powered by neural network technology that collects statistics on the gender of people entering the frame. This information is equally useful for identifying demographic groups not yet covered by current strategies and for maximally satisfying the demands of the dominant group.

Beyond demographic statistics, Xeoma offers a unique feature — gaze tracking. Previously available only in specialized equipment for people with limited mobility, this technology is now integrated into the Xeoma surveillance system and can be used for marketing purposes. This tool allows researching what people focus on, enabling optimization of product layouts and advertising materials.

A heatmap is a color-coded layout of the most and least visited areas, helping determine optimal product placement spots. It’s based on data from Xeoma’s basic “Motion Detector” module, which is also used for detecting unauthorized access and is present in nearly every security system.

Using video surveillance as a marketing tool is also notable because, no matter how much people like being in the camera’s view, they feel much less pressure and privacy invasion under impartial cameras than when watched by other people, so the collected data may also be more unbiased. With video surveillance, all information is gathered automatically, in the background, without involving a special team, allowing not only better, truthful results but also cost savings. Users note a reduction in false positives thanks to AI algorithms.

Any marketer knows that evaluating the effectiveness of marketing tools is an integral part of any campaign, from radio ads to promo stands with free samples. One of the simplest metrics is the number of people who came due to your advertising. Of course, in some cases, the mere increase in foot traffic is sufficient for the business owner, but often more precise information is needed on how many of these visitors are new customers. Fortunately, Xeoma offers several flexible visitor counting tools for different conditions!

With the Xeoma “Visitor Counter” module, you can easily collect data on customer flow (count visitors) and use this information to analyze the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. For more precise data, the “Line Crossing Detector” module adds information on direction of movement — so you can separately count those who entered the premises and those who exited, including floor by floor.

But that’s not all! For a complete picture, Xeoma can not only count all visitors but also specifically mark new, unique visitors. This task is handled by the “Face Recognition” module — an advanced video analytics module used in many surveillance systems for access control as well.

To succeed, businesses need constant improvement. This applies to the Xeoma camera software as well: to meet business needs, it continually evolves. Thus, Xeoma can implement even niche functions on demand for specific tasks. For example, for a company in the public catering sector, we developed the “Restaurant Customer Counter” module, which tracks occupied and free seats to assess venue load and identify growth points. Judge for yourself: if tables are often empty, it might be time to rethink the marketing strategy or launch new promo campaigns; if tables are always full, perhaps consider expansion.

In the previous section, we discussed how visitor counting can be a key tool for understanding marketing effectiveness. However, it’s not the only criterion for assessing advertising success. Often, it’s crucial to simply understand how people react to your efforts. Previously, this required real-time observation of visitors, but now it can be successfully delegated to computers! Modern camera solutions like Xeoma offer tools to help with this:

Want to know what emotions your banner evokes or understand the mood of people passing by your store? Xeoma’s emotion recognition module will help! The module detects 7 basic emotions on a person’s face in the frame, allowing you to draw conclusions about whether people like your advertising campaigns, products, and other innovations.

Xeoma’s main advantage is its flexibility, allowing adaptation to your specific tasks. For example, the “Gaze Detector” we mentioned earlier can also evaluate reactions — marketers can use it to understand which advertising materials attract more attention, especially in A/B experiments.

Xeoma’s flexibility is not only in reimagining familiar tools for new tasks but also in combining various tools for more accurate results. Thus, combining with the loitering detector — a module that detects when a person lingers in the frame for a set time — opens new possibilities for other Xeoma tools. This detector can indicate interest (e.g., if someone lingers at a showcase, it may signal interest), then automatically trigger other video analytics functions — like gaze tracking or face recognition.

Another valuable tool for marketing research is called “Speech Recognition”. It analyzes what customers say around the camera, so placing a camera near a banner, billboard, showcase, etc., lets you learn what people discuss regarding your promotions. Besides transcribing conversations, Xeoma can react to keywords and phrases and trigger responses — for example, saving only those episodes for further study. This gives you a concise summary of the most important insights without reviewing thousands of hours of audio.

As impressive as Xeoma’s capabilities for collecting various video analytics information are, our program can do even more! With Xeoma, you can turn video surveillance from a passive observer into an active marketing tool, enabling personalized customer interactions and boosting advertising campaign effectiveness.

Take the aforementioned “Loitering Detector” module as an example. As discussed, it can indicate interest in a product. This interest can be converted to sales by automatically playing a promo video about the attracting product on a nearby screen or notifying a manager to offer assistance. All this — and more — is possible with Xeoma camera software!

Another example: surveillance cameras often point at cash registers. Beyond investigating financial incidents, this can capture customer faces during loyalty card registration. The system can then recognize the customer on another camera (e.g., an entrance camera for visitor counting) and trigger a reaction — like sending an SMS or email with a special offer. With such tools, the likelihood of a customer entering and making a purchase increases manifold.

Marketers have long noted that using innovative technologies is a great way to stand out from competitors, attract, and retain attention. A prime example is Xeoma’s “Fashion Store” module, which turns a regular monitor into a “virtual fitting room,” allowing store visitors to “try on” catalog clothing on their camera image right there and then. Due to its novelty, this innovative technology hasn’t worn thin on customers yet, sparking genuine interest and boosting sales.

Another simple and effective way to attract attention is displaying live camera streams on large screens. For example, in a sushi restaurant, show order preparation while customers wait, or in an auto service — repair progress. Factories can stream equipment assembly, and zoos — life in various enclosures.

Thanks to the time-lapse feature (timelapse), hours of footage can be compressed into captivating seconds-long clips. Automatic switching between live streams from different cameras keeps visitors engaged. These streams can also be embedded in the company blog or website or on a YouTube channel to build trust and provide entertainment.

Companies implementing Xeoma for video analytics report a 25% sales increase due to personalized recommendations based on customer behavior tracking (Felenasoft cases, 2025)

As you can see, Xeoma camera software provides a wide range of opportunities to use video surveillance as a marketing tool. Using surveillance for market research is not just a trendy fad but a real way to boost business efficiency. By continually analyzing research results (made much easier with surveillance!) and adapting strategies, you can stay one step ahead of competitors.

With a powerful set of features and program flexibility, you can experiment with various settings and functions to find the most effective solutions for your business. Remember, the key to success is constant development, applying new capabilities, and optimization. Grow your business with Xeoma!

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