Persuasive avatars: The effects of customizing a virtual salesperson's appearance on brand liking and purchase intentions

Transformed social interaction (TSI) suggests that virtual environments have unique advantages over traditional forms of interpersonal communication. Recent research has demonstrated that a persuasive speaker can use these advantages to create a more persuasive message. However, little has been done to establish how a receiver of a persuasive message in a virtual, interactive environment might also use these advantages. Giving individuals the ability to customize a persuasive source may empower them and affect their perceptions of the persuasive message. In a 2(forewarned or not)×2(customize source or watch customization) experiment, participants were forewarned or not forewarned that they would be hearing a persuasive message about buying a new energy drink. Participants were then allowed to customize (or watch someone customize) the appearance of the speaker's avatar before the sales pitch. Participants who had the opportunity customize the speaker's appearance liked the product more and had higher purchase intentions than those who did not have control, regardless of forewarning. Findings suggest a new application for TSI, and that both users and sources may benefit when users have the power to customize the appearance of a virtual salesperson. Virtual environments (VEs) offer new opportunities for persuasion.Message sources and receivers can utilize affordances of interactive media.Allowed users in VE to customize avatar of a persuasive speaker before speech.Customizers liked product and had higher purchase intention than non-customizers.

[1]  William Rakowski,et al.  Development costs of a computer-generated tailored intervention , 2004 .

[2]  L. Festinger.  A Theory of Social Comparison Processes , 1954 .

[3]  Terry Daugherty,et al.  Does customization impact advertising effectiveness? An exploratory study of consumer perceptions of advertising in customized online environments , 2012 .

[4]  John T. Cacioppo,et al.  Forewarning, cognitive responding, and resistance to persuasion. , 1977 .

[5]  B. Rimer,et al.  Advancing Tailored Health Communication: A Persuasion and Message Effects Perspective , 2006 .

[6]  Yuping Liu,et al.  What is Interactivity and is it Always Such a Good Thing? Implications of Definition, Person, and Situation for the Influence of Interactivity on Advertising Effectiveness , 2002 .

[7]  Marina Puzakova,et al.  Ads are watching me , 2013 .

[8]  Tibert Verhagen,et al.  Understanding users' motivations to engage in virtual worlds: A multipurpose model and empirical testing , 2012, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[9]  S. Shyam Sundar,et al.  The Psychological Appeal of Personalized Content in Web Portals: Does Customization Affect Attitudes and Behavior? , 2006 .

[10]  Stefan Kopp,et al.  Smile and the world will smile with you - The effects of a virtual agent's smile on users' evaluation and behavior , 2013, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[11]  Jeremy N. Bailenson,et al.  Virtual Experiences, Physical Behaviors: The Effect of Presence on Imitation of an Eating Avatar , 2009, PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments.

[12]  Jeremy N. Bailenson,et al.  Transformed Social Interaction: Decoupling Representation from Behavior and Form in Collaborative Virtual Environments , 2004, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[13]  Yoonhyuk Jung,et al.  Understanding the Role of Sense of Presence and Perceived Autonomy in Users' Continued Use of Social Virtual Worlds , 2011, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[14]  E. Deci,et al.  The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior , 2000 .

[15]  Ann E. Schlosser.  Experiencing Products in the Virtual World: The Role of Goal and Imagery in Influencing Attitudes versus Purchase Intentions , 2003 .

[16]  John T. Cacioppo,et al.  Effects of Forwarning of Persuasive Intent and Involvement on Cognitive Responses and Persuasion , 1979 .

[17]  J. Dillard,et al.  On the Nature of Reactance and its Role in Persuasive Health Communication , 2005 .

[18]  Anthony M. Limperos,et al.  Feeling the Need for (Personalized) Speed: How Natural Controls and Customization Contribute to Enjoyment of a Racing Game Through Enhanced Immersion , 2012, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[19]  Hairong Li,et al.  The effect of 3-D product visualisation on the strength of brand attitude , 2012 .

[20]  Clifford Nass,et al.  Evaluating the effects of behavioral realism in embodied agents , 2009, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[21]  L. Suzanne Suggs,et al.  An Empirical Comparison of Variations of a Virtual Representation of an Individual's Health , 2014, PERSUASIVE.

[22]  Ching-I Teng,et al.  Customization, immersion satisfaction, and online gamer loyalty , 2010, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[23]  Joseph P. Cannon,et al.  An Examination of the Nature of Trust in Buyer–Seller Relationships: , 1997 .

[24]  L. Pelletier,et al.  Persuasive communication and proenvironmental behaviours: How message tailoring and message framing can improve the integration of behaviours through self-determined motivation. , 2008 .

[25]  Timo Partala,et al.  Psychological needs and virtual worlds: Case Second Life , 2011, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[26]  J. Bailenson,et al.  Transformed Social Interaction: Exploring the Digital Plasticity of Avatars , 2006 .

[27]  Leonard Reinecke,et al.  Avatar Creation and Video Game Enjoyment , 2010, J. Media Psychol. Theor. Methods Appl..

[28]  R. A. Wicklund.  Freedom and reactance , 1974 .

[29]  Andrew K. Przybylski,et al.  The Motivational Pull of Video Games: A Self-Determination Theory Approach , 2006 .

[30]  Gary Bente,et al.  To buy or not to buy: Influence of seller photos and reputation on buyer trust and purchase behavior , 2012, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[31]  C. Nass,et al.  Conceptualizing Sources in Online News , 2001 .

[32]  S. Sundar,et al.  Personalization versus Customization: The Importance of Agency, Privacy, and Power Usage , 2010 .

[33]  J. Brehm,et al.  Psychological Reactance: A Theory of Freedom and Control , 1981 .

[34]  J. Brehm.  A theory of psychological reactance. , 1981 .

[35]  Brent Rossen,et al.  A crowdsourcing method to develop virtual human conversational agents , 2012, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[36]  Nicholas H. Lurie,et al.  Should Recommendation Agents Think Like People? , 2006 .

[37]  Hairong Li,et al.  Characteristics of virtual experience in electronic commerce: A protocol analysis , 2001 .

[38]  J. Loomis,et al.  Interpersonal Distance in Immersive Virtual Environments , 2003, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[39]  S. Noar,et al.  Does tailoring matter? Meta-analytic review of tailored print health behavior change interventions. , 2007, Psychological bulletin.

[40]  R. Tokunaga.  Engagement With Novel Virtual Environments: The Role of Perceived Novelty and Flow in the Development of the Deficient Self‐Regulation of Internet Use and Media Habits , 2013 .

[41]  E. Deci,et al.  Ego-involved persistence: When free-choice behavior is not intrinsically motivated , 1991 .

[42]  Hairong Li,et al.  Impact of 3-D Advertising on Product Knowledge, Brand Attitude, and Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Presence , 2002 .

[43]  Jeremy N. Bailenson,et al.  Avatars Versus Agents: A Meta-Analysis Quantifying the Effect of Agency on Social Influence , 2015, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[44]  Andrew K. Przybylski,et al.  A Motivational Model of Video Game Engagement , 2010 .

[45]  H. Simons,et al.  Similarity, credibility, and attitude change: A review and a theory. , 1970 .

[46]  Jeremy V. Pitt,et al.  Avatars in social media: Balancing accuracy, playfulness and embodied messages , 2008, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[47]  Kennon M. Sheldon,et al.  Manipulating autonomy, competence, and relatedness support in a game-learning context: new evidence that all three needs matter. , 2008, The British journal of social psychology.

[48]  Sun Joo Grace Ahn,et al.  Self-Endorsing Versus Other-Endorsing in Virtual Environments , 2011 .

[49]  Chris Janiszewski,et al.  The Influence of Avatars on Online Consumer Shopping Behavior , 2006 .

[50]  Dianne Cyr,et al.  Perceived interactivity leading to e-loyalty: Development of a model for cognitive-affective user responses , 2009, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[51]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  A study of demographic embodiments of product recommendation agents in electronic commerce , 2010, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[52]  Daniel B. Shank.  Impressions of computer and human agents after interaction: Computer identity weakens power but not goodness impressions , 2014, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[53]  C. I. Hovland,et al.  The Influence of Source Credibility on Communication Effectiveness , 1951 .

[54]  S. Shyam Sundar,et al.  Effects of specialization in computers, web sites, and web agents on e-commerce trust , 2010, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[55]  E. Deci,et al.  Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. , 2000, The American psychologist.