James M. Leonhardt

Is Your Product Facing the Ad's Center? Facing Direction Affects Processing Fluency and Ad Evaluation

This research investigates a frequently encountered and important decision faced by advertisers: how to face profile images of products in advertisements. Three empirical studies find support for a profile-fluency effect: Profile images of products facing inward (versus outward) toward the center (versus edge) of an ad are easier for consumers to process and result in more positive consumer evaluations. In addition, there is evidence that this effect depends on the shopping goal of the consumer. The results have clear implications for current practices in advertising and offer opportunities for future research.

Simpler online ratings formats increase consumer trust

Purpose Online customer ratings are ubiquitous in e-commerce. However, in presenting these ratings to consumers, e-commerce websites utilize different formats. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of customer ratings formats on consumer trust and processing fluency. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the latest behavioral research, two empirical experimental studies test whether the format of online customer ratings affects consumer trust and processing fluency. Findings The studies offer converging evidence that a simpler ratings format (i.e. mean format) elicits higher processing fluency and, in turn, higher consumer trust than does a more complex ratings format (i.e. distribution format). Research limitations/implications Future research could include additional factors that might influence the ease of online ratings processing for consumers. Investigation of possible moderators, such as need for cognition, numeracy and consumer involvement, may also be of value. Practical implications These findings have timely practical implications for the design and presentation of customer ratings to enhance e-commerce outcomes. Originality/value This paper extends the effects of processing fluency on consumer trust to the increasingly important context of e-commerce. In doing so, it highlights important interactions between the evolving information environment and consumer judgment. The key takeaway for managers is that simpler online customer ratings formats help to enhance consumer trust.

An Exploratory Analysis of Pronoun Usage by Brands and Consumers on Facebook

The importance of the language used in brand-consumer communications spans many areas of marketing including advertising, personal selling, public relations, service interactions, traditional media, and, within the last decade, digital and social media marketing. The present research provides an exploratory investigation on the use of first (e.g., “I”) and second (e.g., “You”) person singular pronouns in brand-consumer communications on the popular social networking platform, Facebook. In particular, archival data from brand administrator and fan posts on Facebook were collected for a period of 45 days. Initial findings suggest that first- and second-person singular pronoun usage is higher in consumer comments than in brand posts. On the other hand, brand posts contain a higher proportion of second-person (vs. first-person) singular pronouns, while consumer comments contain a higher proportion of first-person (vs. second-person) singular pronouns. Brand posts contain a higher portion of second-person singular pronouns than do consumer comments. Finally, consumer comments contain a higher proportion of first-person singular pronouns than do brand posts. Managerial implications and opportunities for future research are discussed.