Handle with care! How majority cues can reduce the negative effects of warnings of foreseeable product failures

To ensure full effectiveness of several goods, suppliers have to instruct consumers to handle these products in a careful way. In other words, they have to warn of negative consequences in the case of careless usage and improper handling. However, in the perception of consumers, this information can be interpreted as a disadvantage of the products, which reduces their desirability. We investigate whether a particular informational strategy is suitable to reduce the disadvantageous consequences of warnings given by suppliers about potential problems. By doing so, this research demonstrates why and how the use of a majority cue can be an effective measure. A majority cue contains information that most of the customers are satisfied with the product although a severe problem can occur. We found that the negative effects of a warning (e.g., increased perceptions of failure probability) are reduced by providing a majority cue and that the presence of this type of cue elicits additional positive effects such as reduced anger and lower demand of compensation in the case of a failure. Moreover, a higher intent to recommend the company and to purchase a product of this company in the future was observed.