Social ratings as the new currency of marketeers? - Presentation GOR 2015

Social ratings as the new currency of marketeers?

– A comparison of influences from Likes

and test seals on product ratings –

C. Bosau, L. Pöppel & U. Rieger

GOR 2015 Bosau, Pöppel & Rieger: social ratings = new currency?

Practical background: §  Online purchases are steadily increasing §  However, the purchase experience in online settings is different to

offline settings

Purpose of the study

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§  Rating information becomes more important since personal testing is not possible

Theoretical background: §  Customers like to buy “socially proofed“ products

Ø  In new, unclear and ambigous (buying) situations people like to follow others due to informational as well as normative social influence (Stürmer & Siem, 2013; Mente & Sieg, 2013)

§  Several market research studies show the high influence of social media on online purchases (e.g. Schengber, 2011).

§  Online ratings (e.g. stars) seem to have an influence on purchase decisions (Chevalier & Mayzlin, 2006).


Research questions

§  Are customers influenced by ratings of social media, i.e. “Likes”?

§  Is this influence higher than the influence of test seals like “Stiftung Warentest“?

§  Is there a difference between Convenience- und Shopping-Goods?

Study goals

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Study-Design

IV1 Seal „Stiftung

Warentest“ (objective

rating)

IV2 Social rating (subjective

rating)

DV product rating

Moderator product type

(Convenience- vs. Shopping-

Goods)

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Moderator §  FB-Account §  product need


Operationalisation

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IV1 Seal „Stiftung

Warentest“ (objective rating)

Test seal of „Stiftung Warentest“ with: •  „sehr gut“ •  „ausreichend“

IV2 Social rating

(subjective rating)

Number of likes: •  low (5-10 Likes) •  medium (ca. 500 Likes) •  high (ca. 5000 Likes)

DV product rating

Scale of 3 items (α = .841 -‐ α = .919 depending on product) •  Quality rating: „Dieses Produkt besitzt eine gute Qualität“

•  Purchasing intention: „Ich könnte mir gut vorstellen, dieses Produkt zu kaufen“

•  Customer recommendation: „Ich würde dieses Produkt meinen Bekannten weiterempfehlen“

Moderator product type

(Convenience- vs. Shopping-Goods)

Two products for each category: •  SG: Laptop, TV •  CG: water, cholocate


Experimental design

S#$ung Warentest (IV 1)

nega&ve posi&ve

Number of Likes

(IV 2) Low N = 176 N = 204

Medium N = 196 N = 207 High N = 180 N = 207

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Repeated measurement: §  4 different products (within the same category of the experimental design)

Method: •  online questionnaire in 2014 •  N = 1170, drawn via a panel-database by MW Research •  age: mean = 48,1y, SD = 23,8y •  male = 47,7%, female = 52,3% •  representative for German population (regarding age, gender, country)


Stimulus material

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Stimulus material

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ü  Small/medium effect of „Stiftung Warentest“: F(1)=45.43, p < .00, η2 = .04

-  NO effect of von FB-Likes: F(2)=.97, p = .38, η2 = .002

-  NO interaction: F(2)=.24, p = .79, η2 = .000

Results: Total sample

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3,38 3,38 3,26

2,97 2,92 2,89

2,6

2,8

3

3,2

3,4

3,6

FB-‐Likes low

FB-‐Likes medium

FB-‐Likes high

SW posi&ve SW nega&ve

Product rating TV:

3,21

3,39 3,25

2,72 2,69 2,65

2,4

2,6

2,8

3

3,2

3,4

3,6

FB-‐Likes low

FB-‐Likes medium

FB-‐Likes high


ü  medium effect of „Stiftung Warentest“: F(1)=87.49, p < .00, η2 = .07


-  NO interaction: F(2)=.81, p = .45, η2 = .001

Product rating Laptop:

Also controlled for: age, gender, income & rela&onship status




ü  Small marginal interaction: F(2)=2.37, p <.10, η2 = .004

Results: Total sample

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2,86 2,94 2,9

2,45

2,15

2,37

2

2,2

2,4

2,6

2,8

3

FB-‐Likes low

FB-‐Likes medium

FB-‐Likes high


Product rating water:

2,8

2,96 2,91

2,51

2,24 2,27

2

2,2

2,4

2,6

2,8

3

3,2

FB-‐Likes low

FB-‐Likes medium

FB-‐Likes high




ü  Small interaction: F(2)=3.56, p < .05, η2 = .006

Product rating chocolate:

Controlled for: age, gender, income & rela&onship status


Conclusion: Total sample

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Ø  The test seal of „Stiftung Warentest“ does have a clear positive effect on the product rating

Ø  Likes have no effect on the product rating at all

Ø  There is no difference between shopping and convenience goods


Results: only people with product need

ü  Medium effect of „Stiftung Warentest“: F(1)=24.28, p < .00, η2 = .07

-  NO effect of von FB-Likes: F(2)=1.98, p = .14, η2 = .012


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3,55 3,64 3,61

3,4

2,81 2,88

2,6

2,8

3

3,2

3,4

3,6

3,8

FB-‐Likes low

FB-‐Likes medium

FB-‐Likes high


Product rating TV:

3,28

3,57 3,63

2,99

2,77 2,73 2,6

2,8

3

3,2

3,4

3,6

3,8

FB-‐Likes low

FB-‐Likes medium

FB-‐Likes high


ü  Medium effect of „Stiftung Warentest“: F(1)=29.13, p < .00, η2 = .08



Product rating Laptop:


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Ø  The test seal of „Stiftung Warentest“ does have a clear positive effect on the product rating

Ø  For people with a definite product need, the effect of Likes depends on the test seal rating

v  More Likes combined with a negative test rating do have a counterproductive effect à the product rating of shopping goods gets even worse

Conclusion: only people with product need



-  NO effect of Likes -  NO effect of FB-Account

Results: Comparison FB-account (total sample) - only for negative test seal „Stiftung Warentest“ -

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3,15

2,94

2,84

2,68

2,89

2,97

2,6

2,8

3

3,2

FB-‐Likes low

FB-‐Likes medium

FB-‐Likes high

FB-‐Account yes FB-‐Account no

Product rating TV:

2,83 2,77

2,63

2,52

2,6

2,68

2,4

2,6

2,8

3

FB-‐Likes low

FB-‐Likes medium

FB-‐Likes high

FB-‐Account yes FB-‐Account no

Product rating laptop:

ü  Tendency of interaction, NO sign. effect: F(2)=1.11, p = .33, η2 = .004

-  NO effect of Likes -  NO effect of FB-Account

Likes do buffer the effect of a negative test seal a bit, but only for non-Facebook-User. For Facebook-Users, more Likes make it even worse.


Conclusion: comparison FB-account

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Ø  Likes do buffer the effect of a negative test seal a bit, but only for non-Facebook-User.

Ø  For Facebook-Users, more Likes make it even worse.

Ø  By the way: NO interaction effects for a positive test seal à a positive rating of „Stiftung Warentest“ works, regardless of Likes and FB-membership NO effects for convenience goods (water, chocolate)


§  The rating of “Stiftung Warentest” does generally have a significant effect

Conclusion: Effect of “Stiftung Warentest”

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§  A positive rating leads to a better product rating and a higher purchasing intention

§  A negative rating leads to a noticeable lower product rating and a smaller purchasing intention


§  The effect of Likes depends on a facebook membership, i.e. whether customers can maybe understand the meaning of Likes

§  However: This effect can only be found, if …

u  the product has a negative objective rating and

u  the product is a shopping-good

Conclusion: Effect of Likes - 1

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§  For Facebook-Non-Users Likes buffer the negative, objective rating.

§  For Facebook-Users having many Likes is incomprehensible and probably creates dissonance.


§  Additionally, an effect of Likes can better be found for people with an actual product need:

u  Only if people plan to buy a specific product a clear effect of Likes can be found

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§  Likes could – maybe – have a positive impact – for shopping goods –, if there is an objective positive rating too

§  Likes have a more negative impact – for shopping goods –, if they are combined with an objective negative rating

Conclusion: Effect of Likes - 2


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•  Chevalier, J. A. & Mayzlin, D. (2006). The Effect of Word of Mouth on Sales: Online Book Reviews. Journal of Marketing Research, 3(43), pp. 345 - 354.

•  Mente, T. & Sieg, M. (2013). Kundennutzen: die Basis für den Verkauf - So verwandeln Sie Leistungen in messbaren Mehrwert. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler .

•  Schengber, R. (2011). Social Media Einfluss auf das Kaufverhalten im Internet - Eine Studie. Münster: DASF GmbH. •  Stürmer, S. & Siem, B. (2013). Sozialpsychologie der Gruppe. München: Ernst Reinhardt Verlag.

Literature


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Thank you very much for your attention!

Contact details:

Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln Prof. Dr. Christian Bosau, Dipl.-Psych. & Master of HRM & IR Schaevenstraße 1a/b 50676 Köln Tel.: +49 221 20302-0 e-mail: [email protected] Slideshare: cbosau Twitter: cribocologne

Social ratings as the new currency of marketeers? - Presentation GOR 2015

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