How easy-to-process information influences consumers over time: Online review vs. brand popularity

Abstract

Abstract Being bombarded with a large amount of information every day accelerates consumers desire to employ an efficient approach to cope with their daily routines. Easy-to-process information such as categorical information (e.g., review valence or brand popularity) becomes more relied upon by consumers. Under different product familiarity and information availability conditions, this research investigates how consumers select and utilize these easy information sources in their product perceptions and decision making. An experimental study including two tests over time (i.e., one with specific reviews, and the other without) shows that when specific reviews are available, the brand popularity cue plays a role only for unfamiliar products, whereas when the retrieved memory of reviews is based on, both review valance and brand popularity can influence consumers product perceptions and decision making for familiar and unfamiliar products. By comparing results between the two tests, we find that changes in consumers product judgements and decisions exist mainly for unfamiliar products. Obviously more positive perceptions and decisions occur under the condition of unfamiliar products with negative reviews. This study provides insights into consumers’ easy information-based decision patterns and helps marketers understand how and when to use these information sources in their marketing strategies.