Is There a Substitute for Direct Experience? Comparing Consumers' Preferences after Direct and Indirect Product Experiences
- 1 December 2007
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Journal of Consumer Research
- Vol. 34 (4), 546-555
- https://doi.org/10.1086/520073
Abstract
We show that direct product experiences (e.g., product trials) and indirect product experiences (e.g., reading a product description) result in different levels of mental construal and product preferences. Study 1 demonstrates that increasing experiential contact with a product triggers more concrete mental construal and increases preferences for products that are easy to use relative to those that are more desirable but difficult to use. Studies 2 and 3 show that the effect of product experience can be attenuated by encouraging consumers to think concretely prior to product exposure and by asking consumers to choose products for others instead of themselves.Keywords
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