The psychological impact of social proofing and persuasive tools used on online shoppers
Abstract
Social proofing and persuasive tools are used across many eCommerce websites and apps to persuade the online shopper into purchasing. This research asked if social proofing tools have an effect on emotions during a purchasing episode. It was expected that there would be a difference in the emotional scores between participants who viewed a product description page with social proofing tools and those who saw one with none. Forty-four participants were randomly allocated to the two groups, and viewed a product page while being measured by eye tracking apparatus and completed a pre and post experiment consumption emotion set scale. The results of this research identified a significant difference in change in the emotions Calm, Tension, Contentment and Panic between the groups. Further investigation in this area of study must be considered in order to protect the psychological wellbeing of online shoppers.
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