Characteristics of Successful Product Information Programs

A review of 28 field-tested product information programs for consumers revealed the characteristics that distinguish successful from unsuccessful programs. Success in changing purchase or consumption behavior was associated with increases in information benefits and decreases in processing effort. Greater intensity of consumer participation in a program, such as through personal goal setting, also was associated with higher success rates. In contrast, hortatory reminders that neither provided new benefits nor reduced effort costs were unsuccessful. Similarly, a program's magnitude per se was unrelated to its success. We conclude that the design of product information programs should be guided by a cost-benefit analysis of information use from the consumer's perspective.

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