Consumer Learning and Time-Locked Trials of Software Products

Dey, Debabrata; Lahiri, Atanu; Liu, Dengpan

doi:10.2753/mis0742-1222300209

Cited by 62 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Individuals with a good knowledge base are able to encode and process information presented efficiently and thus can afford more information search and digestion [e.g., 14,46]. For example, trials of games or software may be more effective in attracting users who have higher capabilities and richer resources to process the information [22,96]. In contrast, the lack of a related knowledge base and the processing capability may dampen one's enthusiasm to engage in further processing [8].…”

Section: The Moderating Role Of Relevant Knowledge In Evoking Enticementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enticing and Engaging Consumers via Online Product Presentations: The Effects of Restricted Interaction Design

Jiang

Benbasat

2015

Journal of Management Information Systems

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and assistant dean (graduate studies) in the School of Computing. He received his Ph.D. in management information systems from University of British Columbia. His research interests include social media, electronic commerce, human-computer interaction, and information privacy. His work has been published in top information systems journals, such as MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, and Journal of Management Information Systems, and top human-computer interaction conferences, such as CHI. He has served on the editorial board of MIS Quarterly, IEEE Transactions of Engineering Management, and Journal of the AIS, among others. He has previously taught at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Tsinghua University. He was also a visiting scholar in the Marketing Group of MIT Sloan School of Management.IZAK BENBASAT is a ABSTRACT: This work investigates the effects of three different online product presentation formats, namely, a noninteractive video presentation and two virtual product experience (VPE) presentations (full interaction and restricted interaction), on engaging users in online product experience as well as enticing users to try products offline. The experimental results show that restricted interaction, which deprives users of part of the interactive product experience, is more enticing than both the noninteractive and fully interactive design for users with more product-class knowledge. In addition, restricted interaction is generally as good as full interaction in engaging users. Both engagement and enticement positively affect users' purchase intentions. This study contributes to the information systems literature by extending the theory in curiosity formation to the interaction design context and advocating designs for enticement. It contributes to design practice by revealing that less interactive and less costly presentations can be more effective in attracting consumers toward the products.KEY WORDS AND PHRASES: virtual product experience (VPE), restricted interaction, full interaction, enticement, engagement, purchase intention, online product presentation, online video, online selling.This study investigates the effects of three online product presentation formats with varying degrees of interactivity on engaging online users and enticing them to pursue further product experiences offline. The role of users' product-class knowledge in moderating these effects is also assessed.Many online stores have employed various forms of product presentations to display their newly launched products in order to attract consumers. While traditional product presentations are limited mainly to text and pictures, online vendors are now using more vivid multimedia features to enrich the presentations [17,84]. For example, the Land Rover website (www.landroverusa.com) uses video clips with visual and sound effects to display cars in motion. The Samsung website (www.samsung.com) allows users to use their mouse or keyboard to rotate and view a virtual cell phone as well as to try out its various...

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Section: The Moderating Role Of Relevant Knowledge In Evoking Enticementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enticing and Engaging Consumers via Online Product Presentations: The Effects of Restricted Interaction Design

Jiang

Benbasat

2015

Journal of Management Information Systems

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“…Most literature emphasizes the economic value of software trials (Cheng & Tang, 2010;Jiang, 2010;Wang & Zhang, 2009) or the design of software trial such as trial restrictions (Cheng & Liu, 2012;Dey et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2013). We took a unique approach by examining the effects of a user's trial strategies and the way in which the strategies affect users' decision making.…”

Section: Theoretical Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vendors often use free trials to promote their products and create sales leads (Adya & Francis, 2011;Lee & Tan, 2013) with the hope that the free software trials will trigger word-of-mouth marketing and increase product sales (Kempf, 1999). Organizations normally offer a software trial with various types of restrictions such as limited functionality or features (Cheng & Liu, 2012;Dey, Lahiri, & liu, 2013), restricted processing function (for instance, file size limit), output restrictions (such as inability to do so at all), or an expiration date for the trial (Yang & Teo, 2007;Yang, Teo, & Tan, 2006). Nonetheless, the personal interactions during the trial provide first-hand information about the product, which helps one make prudent purchase decisions (Smith & Swinyard, 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decision Confidence and Purchase Intention in Software Trials: A Cognitive Stopping Rule Perspective

Yang¹,

Schiller²,

Teo³

et al. 2017

THCI

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Abstract:Organizations often offer software trials to potential buyers as a form of promotion. The trial experience provides firsthand information of the product, which contributes to prudent purchase decisions. Despite the popularity of software trials in consumer markets, we have yet to fully understand how individuals formulate purchase decisions throughout the trial process. This study proposes a novel perspective by focusing on 1) decision confidence that individuals establish when using a software trial based on the compatible cognitive stopping rules (CSRs) they apply and 2) the influence of decision confidence on purchase intention. We conducted a controlled lab experiment in which 204 participants tried an interior design software product. We found that the participants formed their decision confidence by applying compatible CSRs during the software trial. Decision confidence augmented the positive influence of product satisfaction on purchase decision. Interestingly, decision confidence attenuated the positive relationship between a user's satisfactory trial experience and the decision to purchase the software. We provide detailed discussions on our findings, limitations, theoretical contributions, and implications for practice.

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“…While benefiting from such a marketing strategy, software firms have to be aware of the cannibalization effect of FTS that it may reduce a user's propensity to purchase the full-version software (Gallaugher & Wang, 2002;Tang, 2003). To encourage users who have engaged in free trial to commit in subsequent purchase, software firms normally impose trial restrictions, including time restriction and/or functionality restriction, on the FTS (Cheng & Liu, 2012;Dey, Lahiri, & Liu, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do users cope with trial restrictions? A field experiment on free trial software

Yang

Liu

Teo

2017

International Journal of Information Management

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Consumer Learning and Time-Locked Trials of Software Products

Cited by 62 publications

References 16 publications

Enticing and Engaging Consumers via Online Product Presentations: The Effects of Restricted Interaction Design

Enticing and Engaging Consumers via Online Product Presentations: The Effects of Restricted Interaction Design

Decision Confidence and Purchase Intention in Software Trials: A Cognitive Stopping Rule Perspective

How do users cope with trial restrictions? A field experiment on free trial software

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