TY - JOUR
T1 - Construal Matching in Online Search
T2 - Applying Text Analysis to Illuminate the Consumer Decision Journey
AU - Humphreys, Ashlee
AU - Isaac, Mathew S.
AU - Wang, Rebecca Jen Hui
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Angela Y. Lee, Grant Packard, and participants of the 2020 Wharton Behavioral Insights from Text Conference for their helpful comments and suggestions. They also gratefully acknowledge the support of Microsoft and the Intent Lab, a collaborative research unit created by Performics and Northwestern University, as well as the following individuals: Burcu Agma, Alice Air, Minna Du, Kelli Kemery, Shawn Mohamed, Ines Paez, Joe Reinstein, and Esteban Ribero.
Publisher Copyright:
© American Marketing Association 2020.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - As consumers move through their decision journey, they adopt different goals (e.g., transactional vs. informational). In this research, the authors propose that consumer goals can be detected through textual analysis of online search queries and that both marketers and consumers can benefit when paid search results and advertisements match consumer search–related goals. In bridging construal level theory and textual analysis, the authors show that consumers at different stages of the decision journey tend to assume different levels of mental construal, or mindsets (i.e., abstract vs. concrete). They find evidence of a fluency-driven matching effect in online search such that when consumer mindsets are more abstract (more concrete), consumers generate textual search queries that use more abstract (more concrete) language. Furthermore, they are more likely to click on search engine results and ad content that matches their mindset, thereby experiencing more search satisfaction and perceiving greater goal progress. Six empirical studies, including a pilot study, a survey, three lab experiments, and a field experiment involving over 128,000 ad impressions provide support for this construal matching effect in online search.
AB - As consumers move through their decision journey, they adopt different goals (e.g., transactional vs. informational). In this research, the authors propose that consumer goals can be detected through textual analysis of online search queries and that both marketers and consumers can benefit when paid search results and advertisements match consumer search–related goals. In bridging construal level theory and textual analysis, the authors show that consumers at different stages of the decision journey tend to assume different levels of mental construal, or mindsets (i.e., abstract vs. concrete). They find evidence of a fluency-driven matching effect in online search such that when consumer mindsets are more abstract (more concrete), consumers generate textual search queries that use more abstract (more concrete) language. Furthermore, they are more likely to click on search engine results and ad content that matches their mindset, thereby experiencing more search satisfaction and perceiving greater goal progress. Six empirical studies, including a pilot study, a survey, three lab experiments, and a field experiment involving over 128,000 ad impressions provide support for this construal matching effect in online search.
KW - abstract vs. concrete mindsets
KW - construal level
KW - consumer decision journey
KW - goal progress
KW - online search
KW - processing fluency
KW - search queries
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114512213&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85114512213&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0022243720940693
DO - 10.1177/0022243720940693
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85114512213
VL - 58
SP - 1101
EP - 1119
JO - Journal of Marketing Research
JF - Journal of Marketing Research
SN - 0022-2437
IS - 6
ER -