Online product experiences: The effect of simulating stroking gestures on product understanding and the critical role of user control

Highlights

• Two studies indicate that visual stimuli can tap into tactile perceptual information.

• An interactive interface offers an informational function for experience attributes.

• Simulated tactile sensations mediate this causal relationship.

• One critical aspect of tactile sensations is the level of control that a user can exert over products.

Abstract

This article builds upon the persuasiveness of touch in consumer settings, extending it to an online store environment. Recognizing that actual touch is not always feasible, the aim is to investigate whether interactive visual stimuli can tap into tactile perceptual information, thus improving understanding (i.e., perceived diagnosticity) regarding product attributes in an online store. In Study 1, an interface with image interactivity to simulate stroking gestures increased perceived diagnosticity of the experience attributes of a product (i.e., a scarf), as compared to a static interface using only pictures. Mediation analysis indicates that this effect is due to visually induced tactile sensations. As expected, no effects were found for search attributes, for which touch is considered less diagnostic. Study 2 reaffirms the importance of tactile sensations in perceived diagnosticity regarding experience attributes using a different product (i.e., a throw blanket), in addition to indicating the crucial importance of user control in invoking tactile sensations. In other words, Study 2 demonstrates that the ability to control the online product (instead of merely watching the product being moved around) is important to induce tactile sensations. Results from both studies indicate that, in the context of online stores, simulated tactile sensations is an important factor in online product understanding.

Introduction

Touch is inherently related to our evaluation and appreciation of many different objects (Yazdanparast & Spears, 2012). Our sense of touch “provides us with information about the world, about the shape and weight of things, about its texture and temperature, its verticality and stability, and many other physical properties” (Hekkert, 2006, p. 162). Many studies support the idea that touch is an important sensory modality for acquiring relevant product information and that it is therefore highly effective in influencing product evaluation (Grohmann et al., 2007, Peck and Childers, 2003b) and consumer decision-making (McCabe and Nowlis, 2003, Peck and Wiggins, 2006). This is particularly true with regard to products that have important tactile properties (e.g., clothing). In some cases, touch can even outweigh visual input (Balaji, Raghavan, & Jha, 2011), as when visual input is inconclusive and, for example, a leather purse feels unexpectedly soft and smooth. Touch is undoubtedly a powerful tool for information and persuasion in a retailing context.

In online stores, however, the consumer is deprived of actual touch prior to making a purchase. Online consumers are thus “forced” to make their purchase decisions based on the visual attributes of products (Ho, 2014) and/or according to other (less reliable; cf. Ng et al., 2013, Szybillo and Jacoby, 1974) product-extrinsic features, including price, brand, and store image (Spence & Gallace, 2011). This phenomenon appears to explain a considerable portion of the high rate of returns in the e-retailing sector, which can be as much as 40% in online clothing stores (De et al., 2013, Wiese et al., 2012). For products with salient experience attributes (i.e., for which sensory input is important for product understanding), the inability to touch has proven a particularly salient reason why consumers remain hesitant to buy these types of products online (Childers et al., 2001, Citrin et al., 2003, Iglesias-Pradas et al., 2013). Although scholars have identified the inability to touch as a limiting factor in online shopping, they have yet to demonstrate how online retailers can overcome this barrier, or at least decrease it. Optimizing the online product experience requires the identification of a convincing alternative for touch, along with its underlying mechanisms, thereby improving product understanding in online store environments. This article addresses this important knowledge gap.

The primary objective of this study is to demonstrate that an interface with image interactivity to simulate stroking gestures can tap into tactile perceptual information, thus enhancing the understanding of a product’s attributes (i.e., perceived diagnosticity). We build further on research showing that visual sensory input is capable of eliciting tactile sensations (Anema et al., 2012, Keysers et al., 2004, Klatzky et al., 1991). This article is based on the results of two studies. Study 1 investigates whether the format of product presentation (i.e., static interface, interactive interface, actual product) influences perceived diagnosticity with regard to product attributes for which sensory input is important (experience attributes) or unimportant (search attributes). In addition, Study 1 examines whether visually induced tactile sensations might mediate this causal relationship. The aim of Study 2 is to replicate the results of Study 1 using a different product (i.e., a throw blanket), subsequently assessing the importance of user control in interacting with the product. Study 2 therefore includes a fourth presentation format that resembles the interactive interface, but which uses a video to simulate stroking gestures. This makes it possible to ascertain the importance of the ability to control the online product (instead of merely watching it) to inducing tactile sensations, thereby enhancing perceived diagnosticity.

The two studies are set out to extend the theoretical and practical understanding of mediated product experiences. Most current e-retailers employ basic visual cues (e.g., static pictures) to communicate the product salient attributes (Lee, 2012, Scarpi, 2012). However, the information integration response model (IIRM, Smith & Swinyard, 1982) arguments that direct hands-on experience is superior to persuading consumers than indirect experience (e.g. advertising), because it is processed directly through the senses. Mediated product experience should, therefore, be positioned closely to the real environment through moving toward more multisensory interactions (Klein, 2003, Sukoco and Wu, 2011). Considering the current technological innovations that provide highly realistic product visualizations in online environments (e.g., extensive zoom, video, 3D applications, augmented reality), online experience which offers a better mediated experience could also be more persuasive. Whether or not an interactive interface (i.e., simulating stroking gestures using rich image interactivity and high levels of user control) can offer a way of substituting for missing tactile information and therefore improve product understanding is subject to present studies. Moreover, in this paper we take into account that consumers’ experience with a product can range on a spectrum from indirect to direct, going beyond the ubiquitous dichotomous view. At the indirect anchor of the spectrum consumers usually use a single sense in processing product information (Mooy & Robben, 2002). However, simulating the consumption experience (i.e., in our studies; handling the product by simulating stroking gestures) rather than simply representing the product should increase the use of the tactile modality in information processing, which, in turn, should enhance consumers’ product learning. This paper aims to identify different product presentation formats that impact consumers’ product understanding.