Noreen M. Klein

Packaging communication: attentional effects of product imagery

This article provides a theoretical framework for understanding the communicative effects of product imagery on attention to the brand, specifically, the attentional effects of incorporating a picture or illustration of the product on the packaging of the product. Empirical results from a virtual reality simulation show that package pictures increase shoppers’ attention to the brand. However this effect is contingent, occurring only for low familiarity brands (private‐label brands) within product categories that offer a relatively high level of experiential benefits. These results suggest that package pictures may be especially useful for private label brands and/or lesser tier national brands whose strategic objectives are to improve consumers’ perceptions of the brand and enter the consideration set.

Packaging as Brand Communication: Effects of Product Pictures on Consumer Responses to the Package and Brand

This paper examines the impact of product imagery (on packages) on consumers’ beliefs about the brand and their evaluations of both the brand and package. An empirical study using food products demonstrates that packages displaying a picture of the product can communicate information about the brand, and thus change brand beliefs. In addition, consumers who placed the most importance on these beliefs also had a better evaluation of the brand itself when its package included a product picture. This research thus provides evidence that consumers use packaging, an extrinsic cue, to infer intrinsic product attributes. In addition, consumers reported a more positive attitude toward the package itself when it included a product picture.

An Investigation of Utility-Directed Cutoff Selection

Although the use of cutoffs in heuristic decision strategies has been widely discussed, few studies have attempted to identify which cutoffs will be used in a particular decision. In this article it is proposed that decision makers choose cutoffs that maximally discriminate retained and rejected alternatives in terms of utility. Thus, cutoff selection is influenced by the utility structures that the decision maker has for salient attributes of the alternatives. A model is tested in which cutoffs are assumed to be positioned where the difference in utility between the two attribute levels that span the cutoff is greatest. Utilities are measured by conjoint analysis and cutoffs are identified by concurrent protocols. The proposed relationships are generally supported; however, the nature of the errors in the models predictions suggests a modification in which cutoff placement is more conservative. A second model with more conservative cutoffs is shown to work well in specific decisions, but does not generally predict cutoffs better than the original model. In addition, the outcomes from heuristic choice processes were often optimal. Decision makers who use cutoffs may select them rationally, with the expectation of making the best choice as well as simplifying a decision.

Utility and decision strategies: a second look at the rational decision maker.

The concept of bounded rationality underlies most behavioral, descriptive decision theory. The implications of limited cognitive capacity have been extensively explored; however, there have been few attempts to understand the means by which decisions made under these constraints remain rational. Some propositions with regard to the ways in which utility considerations guide decision strategies are presented and tested. The results provide some evidence that the decision maker uses strategies that are relatively likely to enhance the utility of the final choice, even when utility maximization is not feasible.

Selling Strategies: The Effects of Suggesting a Decision Structure to Novice and Expert Buyers

This research investigates the impact of selling strategies on selling effectiveness. The authors compare two selling strategies: (1) an agenda strategy, in which a salesperson attempts to influence the structure of the buyer’s decision by suggesting constraints that eliminate competitive products from consideration, and (2) a more typical selling strategy that summarizes the target product’s benefits. The results show that when sellers use an agenda selling strategy, target products receive higher evaluations and have higher probabilities of being considered and chosen. Buyer expertise moderates this effect, with the agenda strategy in most cases having more impact on novice buyers than on expert buyers. These findings demonstrate the importance of selling strategy to selling effectiveness, suggest the potential benefit for sellers of using selling strategies that attempt to influence the structure of the buyer’s decision, and provide support for the contingent nature of selling effectiveness.

Buyer–seller relationships and selling effectiveness: the moderating influence of buyer expertise and product competitive position

Abstract A field experiment using computer-interactive interviews tested the effects of buyer–seller relationships on selling effectiveness in the context of an individual purchase decision. Within interviews, organizational buyers responded to simulated sales calls from copier salespeople. Results show that when these buyers are in a relational exchange with a seller (as opposed to a discrete exchange), they evaluate that sellers product more highly and are more likely to consider and choose the sellers product for purchase. The relationships positive effects on product evaluation and consideration are stronger for novice buyers than for expert buyers. While expert buyers seem less likely than novices to alter their product judgments and decisions because of a relationship, salespeople may still experience a relational advantage with experts as long as these sellers recommend products with strong competitive positions. Results support the importance of the buyer–seller relationship to selling effectiveness and reveal that some of the positive effects of a relationship are contingent on both the buyers expertise and the product that is represented.

Who Wants to go First? Order Effects Within a Series of Competitive Sales Presentations

This research uses organizational buyers to examine whether the order in which a sales presentation occurs within a series of competitive sales calls influences a buyer’s choice of the Market Leader and a similarly positioned Me-Too product. The Me-Too product is most successful when presented last—a recency effect. The Market Leader also fares better in the last position, but in addition, it is also chosen more often when it is presented first—a primacy effect. The salesperson for the Me-Too product is able to reduce the Market Leader’s primacy advantage by using an agenda selling strategy, in which the seller encourages the buyer to directly compare products and eliminate those that fail to meet minimum criteria.