Enhancing consumer evaluation of new products: The role of innovation newness and communication strategy

Abstract

This study investigates how the psychological distance associated with innovation newness interacts with the construal level of advertisement (ad) appeal to influence consumer product evaluations. We conduct three studies to demonstrate how to optimize consumer evaluations of incrementally new products (INPs) vs. radically new products (RNPs) by examining the moderating role of concrete attribute vs. abstract benefit appeals in advertising. Study 1 reveals that greater innovation newness increases the psychological distance toward new products. Study 2 demonstrates that attribute appeal is more effective when paired with INPs, low-level concrete construal, whereas benefit appeal is more effective when paired with RNPs, high-level abstract construal. This outcome is further mediated through processing fluency. Furthermore, Study 3 demonstrates that the matching principle applies to utilitarian products, but with hedonic products, abstract benefit appeal improves the evaluations of both INPs and RNPs.