The Influence of Product Aesthetics on Consumer Inference Making

Abstract

Product aesthetics can enhance consumer welfare in numerous ways. Aside from simply making products more pleasurable, product aesthetics can also influence the inferences that consumers make about functional attributes. In some instances, an attractive design can accurately provide information regarding utility. In other instances, however, an attractive design can be a misleading signal that prompts consumers to assume more utility than justified. Across five studies, the present research examines whether aesthetics can exert an unwarranted influence on the estimation of missing attribute information in favor of an aesthetically superior product. We show that aesthetics can bias consumers' inferences about functionality, sometimes overriding other more diagnostic information. Boundaries to this effect are also identified that may serve to correct the bias and preserve consumer welfare. F or nearly two decades, a growing body of research has addressed how product aesthetics can influence consumer response (Bloch 1995). At a general level, research has variously shown that attractive design can enhance product satisfaction and liking, impressions of prestige, luxury, and usability, as well as product and firm value (e.g., Hagtvedt and Patrick 2008; Townsend and Shu 2010). At the level of specific aesthetic dimensions, research has similarly found that positive affective and evaluative responses to an offering can be elicited by characteristics such as prototypicality, proportionality, color, symmetry, novelty, coolness, and cuteness (e.g.

Conceptualising online fashion brand recognition: scale development and validation

“…The aesthetic appeals of a product considerably enhance BR and thus stimulate the consumers' linking with the brand and brand value (Choi et al, 2016). The aesthetic attraction of the product captures consumers' attention and enhances brand appeal and recognition (Mugge et al, 2018;Crolic et al, 2019). Therefore, online BR is portrayed through the aesthetic attraction of the fashion products.…”

Introduction to Special Issue: Uncovering the Potential of Aesthetics and Design to Transform Everyday Life

“…These articles consider everyday consumer aesthetics with a special focus on their transformative potential. The topics include everyday arenas such as basic consumer products, including electric kettles (Crolic et al 2019) and picture frames (Jiang, Su, and Zhu 2019); the package design of commonplace products such as bottled waters (Huang et al 2019) or snack foods (Schnurr 2019); promotional materials consumers regularly encounter such as product displays (Koo, Oh, and Patrick 2019) or online promotions (Mourey and Elder 2019); and routine decisions such as the clothing one wears (Cutright, Srna, and Samper 2019). Together, these essays reveal the breadth of the influence of aesthetics.…”

“…Together, these essays reveal the breadth of the influence of aesthetics. They identify how aesthetics can help build esteem and forge the bonds needed to bring together a community (Bublitz et al 2019), "nudge" consumer decision making toward more personally optimal choices (Crolic et al 2019;Cutright et al 2019;Schnurr 2019), or aid prosocial causes, society, and the planet at large (Carvalho, Hildebrand, and Sen 2019;Huang et al 2019;Koo et al 2019;Mourey and Elder 2019).…”

“…The essays presented in this issue reflect and expand on the previously defined trends in the study of aesthetics and design. Some consider broad overarching aesthetic appeal (Bublitz, et al 2019;Crolic et al 2019). Others examine particular domains of aesthetics such as anthropomorphization (Koo et al 2019), cuteness (Schnurr 2019), formality (Cutright et al 2019), neatness (Carvalho et al 2019), and divergence (Warren and Reimann 2019).…”

Haptic Hybrid Prototyping (HHP): An AR Application for Texture Evaluation with Semantic Content in Product Design

“…Within this framework, one of the main purposes of design engineering teams is to focus on the user to meet their needs and expectations [6,7]. Thus, in the conceptual phase, the correct formal, functional and aesthetic adaptation of the product by industrial designers is crucial to avoid problems in the following phases of the design process or even market products with erroneous attributes [8].…”