When consumers have difficulty understanding ads: How technical language lowers purchase intention

Abstract

Technical language refers to field‐specific professional terms that are unfamiliar to general consumers. Despite consumers' lack of familiarity with technical language, it is still used in advertisements for various products. Here, we find that technical language reduces consumers' willingness to purchase the advertised products because such language reduces their processing fluency (Study 1 and Study 2). We further show that (1) when consumers have relevant knowledge (Study 3) and (2) when the advertised product is a typical technology product (Study 4), the negative effect of technical language is attenuated. Together, these three findings constitute evidence that processing fluency is a mechanism by which consumers' purchase intention is decreased following their exposure to technical language in advertising, suggesting that using technical language in ads may not be the best option.

Research on the matching effect between advertising appeal and product type on the purchase intention of organic food

“…As one of the essential mechanisms in matching research, processing fluency significantly impacts subsequent behavioral decisions. The use of technical language in advertisements reduces consumers' willingness to buy because this language reduces their processing fluency, especially for the average consumer Liu et al (2023), However, Pan's 2020 study showed that the negative impact of technical language is attenuated when consumers have relevant knowledge or when the advertisement involves a typical technical product (Yating et al, 2020). Fu explored the external stimuli and internal psychological characteristics that influence the effectiveness of green advertisements, considering the interactions of message framing, environmental attitudes, and processing fluency.…”