Let’s face it: When and how facial emojis increase the persuasiveness of electronic word of mouth

Abstract

Facial emojis have increasingly permeated electronic word of mouth (eWOM), but the persuasive consequences of this phenomenon remain unclear. Drawing on emotions as social information (EASI) theory, this research reveals that facial emojis influence persuasion (e.g., product choice) by affecting emotional arousal and perceived ambiguity. While the effect through emotional arousal is generally positive, the effect through ambiguity depends on the emojis’ function in eWOM: facial emojis that replace a verbal expression increase ambiguity and therefore reduce persuasion, whereas those that reiterate a verbal expression decrease ambiguity and therefore enhance persuasion. Both the emotional-arousal and ambiguity pathways determine the net persuasive effect. This research also explores two situations (high verbal context richness and eWOM from strong ties) where replacing facial emojis can increase persuasion. Finally, the authors show that facial emojis’ persuasive power is generalizable to online brand communications, influencing key management outcomes such as click-through rates for digital ads.

eWOM Information Richness and Online User Review Behavior: Evidence from TripAdvisor

“…Information can lead to uncertainty, mainly due to differences between the amount of information needed and received and ambiguity of information due to recipient confusion or lack of information [3]. To achieve information transmission, two basic information goals must be fulfilled: meeting information richness and reducing ambiguity [47][48][49]. As shown in Table 1, recent research on information richness has mainly focused on social media and online and offline sales.…”