Executive Summary
This article examines the impact of imagination-focused visualization on the evaluation of really new products (RNPs)—that is, products that provide novel benefits but involve high learning costs. Although mental simulation has been found to be an effective tool to help consumers evaluate products in general, when consumers are asked to simulate new product–related activities visually, they often underestimate the usefulness of radically new features. Instead, they seem to rely on their memories of existing consumption routines in an attempt to facilitate understanding. In this research, the authors incorporate visual mental imagery with an imaginative focus into new product learning and examine the impact of an imaginative focus on the evaluation of new products.
The first experiment compares imagination-focused visualization with memory-focused visualization and demonstrates that an imaginative focus leads to higher evaluations of a RNP but has no effect on the evaluation of an incrementally new product. In the second experiment, the authors show it is imagination’s impact on the perceived value of new benefits rather than on the learning costs that drives increases in consumer evaluations for RNPs. Experiment 3 shows that the advantage of an imaginative focus is not simply due to an increased focus on product benefits, because imagination still leads to higher product evaluation than memory-focused visualization, even when participants in both instances are asked to think exclusively about product benefits. Finally, an explicit focus on learning costs while using an imaginative approach is shown to draw attention away from product benefits and attenuate the advantage of imagination on product evaluation.
These findings have important implications for marketing managers of new products. They suggest that when marketing RNPs, managers should encourage customers to use their imagination and focus on the new product uses that they have never experienced before. For example, marketing managers of a new computer (e.g. Tablet PC) should ask consumers to go beyond their existing knowledge about how they traditionally use a computer and, instead, imagine the new possibilities provided by innovative product features (e.g., visualize how the new digital pen facilitates interaction with the computer). Having consumers envision new benefits better will help them realize the value of those benefits, leading to higher evaluations and adoption rates for RNPs.
Biography
Min Zhao is Assistant Professor of Marketing at University of Toronto. Her primary research interests include the role of mental imagery in consumer behavior, new product learning, and choice over time. She received her PhD in Marketing from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Professor Zhao has published in Journal of Marketing Research and Journal of Consumer Psychology.
Steve Hoeffler is Associate Professor of Marketing in the Owen Graduate School of Business at Vanderbilt University and an expert in consumer products marketing, brand management, and consumer behavior. His research on such topics as positioning multiple category products, marketing radically new products, and the advantages of strong brands have appeared in such journals as Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Product Innovation Management, and Journal of Marketing Research. He has received research grants from the Marketing Science Institute. Before joining Owen, Hoeffler was Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has worked in marketing for NCR/AT&T and has consulted for Procter & Gamble, IBM, and Fujitsu. Professor Hoeffler holds a PhD from Duke University.
Darren W. Dahl is Fred H. Siller Professor in Applied Marketing Research at the University of British Columbia. His research interests are in the areas of new product design and development, creativity, consumer product adoption, the role of social influence in consumer behavior, and understanding the role of self-conscious emotions in consumption. His research has been published in various texts and such journals as Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Management Science, and Journal of Consumer Psychology. Professor Dahl teaches courses in consumer behavior, marketing research, and strategic marketing at the undergraduate, MBA, and executive education levels. He has won awards for both his research (e.g., Marketing Science Institute Young Scholar) and his teaching (e.g., CGA Graduate Teaching Award) efforts. Before coming to the University of British Columbia, he held a faculty appointment at the University of Manitoba for four years. He also has been a visiting professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Thammasat University in Thailand. Professor Dahl received his PhD from the University of British Columbia.
J Marketing Research, Volume 46, Number 1, February 2009
View Table of Contents.