Sensory stimuli to influence customer engagement in digital contexts

[EN] Sensory marketing is an opportunity to influence the perception, judgment and behavior of consumers and maximize the profitability of the product. Different brands use stimuli in digital contexts to boost customer engagement. For example, emojis, gifs, stickers, and images that are visually appealing. As auditory stimuli, there are voices, music, playlist, etc. and the rest of the senses, they can integrate digital interfaces that help them better experience the products, such as screens, zoom, or simpler elements such as images or sensory descriptions. This thesis studies sensory stimuli in digital contexts and the influence they have on customer engagement. Moderating variables are integrated into the analysis to better understand how these stimuli influence customers. The results obtained through the different experiments carried out in digital contexts with a sample of consumers and students suggest that the presence of sensory stimuli increases customer engagement in digital contexts and there are different variables that moderate their effectiveness. In the case of visual stimuli (emojis), the type and repetition moderate the relationship, for auditory stimuli, the type of product and the involvement are important variables to consider, while for sensory words related to touch, the consumer's need-for-touch is relevant to understanding how sensory words influence customer response. This thesis contributes to the previous sensory marketing literature by integrating the five senses in digital marketing and three, difficult to replicate on the internet (smell, touch, and taste), in addition to integrating less studied sensory stimuli (for example, emojis, sounds associated with the product, voice-over and sensory words) and integrating less explored digital channels such as emails and blogs. Other contributions are the inclusion of moderating variables when predicting the effects of sensory stimuli, as well as a consistent and complete metric of customer engagement. Finally, the results obtained in this thesis have important practical implications for marketing professionals specialized in digital contexts, brands, software, social networks, websites, and search engines. [ES] El marketing sensorial es una oportunidad para influir en la percepción, juicio y comportamiento de los consumidores y maximizar la rentabilidad del producto. Diferentes marcas utilizan estímulos en contextos digitales para impulsar el compromiso del consumidor. Por ejemplo, emojis, gifs, stickers e imágenes que son atractivos visuales. Como estímulos auditivos hay voces, música, playlist, etc. y para el resto de sentidos pueden integrar interfaces digitales que los ayuden a experimentar mejor los productos, como pueden ser pantallas, zoom o elementos más simples como imágenes o descripciones sensoriales. Esta tesis estudia los estímulos sensoriales en contextos digitales y la influencia que tienen en el compromiso del consumidor. Se integran al análisis variables moderadoras que ayudan a comprender mejor cómo influyen estos estímulos en el consumidor. Los resultados obtenidos a través de los diferentes experimentos realizados en contextos digitales con muestra de consumidores y estudiantes, sugieren que la presencia de estímulos sensoriales incrementa el compromiso del consumidor en contextos digitales y hay diferentes variables que moderan la relación. En el caso de los estímulos visuales (emojis), el tipo y la repetición moderan la relación, para los estímulos auditivos, el tipo de producto y la implicación son variables importantes a considerar, mientras que para las palabras sensoriales relacionadas con el tacto, la necesidad de tocar del consumidor es relevante para entender cómo influyen las palabras sensoriales en la respuesta de los consumidores. Esta tesis contribuye a la literatura previa del marketing sensorial al integrar los cinco sentidos en marketing digital y tres, difíciles de replicar en internet (olfato, tacto y gusto), además de integrar estímulos sensoriales menos estudiados (por ejemplo, emojis, sonidos asociados al producto, voz en off y palabras sensoriales) e integrando canales digitales menos explorados, como correos electrónicos y blogs. Otras aportaciones son la inclusión de variables moderadoras a la hora de predecir los efectos de los estímulos sensoriales, así como una métrica congruente y completa del compromiso del cliente. Finalmente, los resultados obtenidos en esta tesis tienen imporantes implicaciones prácticas para los profesionales de marketing especializados en contextos digitales, marcas, softwares, redes sociales, websites y motores de búsqueda

Understanding the Role of Nonverbal Tokens in the Spread of Online Information

Individuals and society continue to suffer as the fake news infodemic continues unabated. Current research has focused largely on the verbal part (plain text) of fake news, the nuances of nonverbal communication (emojis and other semiotic tokens) remain largely understudied. We explore the relationship between fake news and emojis in this work through two studies. The first study found that information with emojis is retweeted 1.28 times more and liked 1.41 times more than information without them. Additionally, our research finds that tweets with emojis are more common in fake news (49%) than true news (33%). We also find that emojis are more popular with fake news compared to true news. In our second study, we conducted an online experiment with true and fake news (N=99) to understand how the functional usage (replace/emphasize) of emoji affects the spread of information. We find that when an emoji replaces a verbal token, it is liked less (p0.05)

Nursing Students' Narrative Text Writing Improvement with Animation Video

The purpose of this study was to determine if the animation video can enhance students' narrative writing skills at Universitas Borneo Tarakan. This research employed Classroom Action Research as its methodology (CAR). In this study, there were 21 of the sample. An observation checklist, an interview, and a writing test were used in this study. In this study, there were two success criteria. First, students should get at least a 75.0 on their writing assignments. Second, class participation and instructor engagement must both total 80. In this study, the researcher did the analysis of the data using a combination of different methods. Quantitative data analysis was used to evaluate the results of the written tests, while qualitative data analysis was used to evaluate the results of the observation checklist and interviews. This study found that the use of animated videos led to a rise in students' writing scores between the first and second cycles of instruction. Attendance at the first meeting was 33%, and at the second it was at 57%. The attendance rates for the first and second meetings of the second cycle were 52% and 76%, respectively. The outcome of the observation checklist demonstrates the improvement, which can also be seen for itself. Based on the checklist of observable behaviors, it was clear that the training had been effective. From what we can gather from the interviews, using animation videos in the classroom is beneficial and makes both teachers and students happy. The results of this study suggest that having students practice their writing skills with the aid of animated videos can help them achieve better results

Examining Misinformation and Disinformation Games Through Inoculation Theory and Transportation Theory

Media misinformation and disinformation continue to threaten the foundation on which scientific, political, and other socially relevant decisions are made. This paper examines games designed to serve as interventions for changing player’s behaviors in misinformation and disinformation media. It analyzes the games formally through two common communication intervention theories for behavior modification and education: inoculation theory and transportation theory. The media theories are first framed in the context of games generally, then they are applied across six research focused games ; Harmony Square, Bad News, Fake It To Make It, Factitious and FakeYou!. The work offers theory-informed observations and recommendations to support improved efficacy for existing and future playable media

The role of emojis and emoticons in social engineering

The purpose of this paper is to place the use of emojis and emoticons in communication, e.g., on social networks and with SMSs, to the field of social engineering. With a systematic literature survey in academic databases Web of Science and Scopus, and opportunistic search, 40 scientific papers about emojis and emoticons in social engineering were identified. The use of emojis and emoticons in communication is a form of direct communication as the sender directly influences the recipient. Emojis and emoticons are a universal tool that is understood by all communication technology users regardless of their demographics. Most of the analyzed studies employ a quantitative approach and span different research areas, such as marketing, psychology, sociology, etc. This paper represents one of the first systematic literature reviews that deal with emojis and emoticons in the context of social engineering. The findings of this paper may serve as a basis for further, especially qualitative research

Investigating effects of emoji on neutral narrative text: evidence from eye movements and perceived emotional valence

Digital images of faces such as emoji in virtual communication have become increasingly popular, but current research findings are inconsistent regarding their emotional effects on perceptions of text. Similarly, emoji effects on reading behaviours are largely unknown and require further examination. The present study (N = 41) investigated how the position and emotional valence of emoji in neutral narrative sentences influenced eye movements during reading and perceptions of sentence valence. Participants read neutral narrative sentences containing smiling or frowning emoji in sentence-initial or sentence-final positions and rated the perceived emotional valence of the sentence. Results from linear mixed-effects models demonstrated significantly longer fixations on sentence-final emoji and longer sentence reading times when emoji were in sentence-final positions. These findings are comparable to sentence ‘wrap-up’ effects witnessed in the processing of lexical units during sentence reading, providing new evidence towards the way readers integrate emoji into contextual processing. However, no impact of emoji valence or position on first-pass target word processing or sentence-valence ratings were found. This would refute previous suggestions that digital faces influence text valence, raising questions about reader preference for emoji or sentence sentiment, the influence of sentence formatting, and delivery/display mechanism on these effects

Impacto da utilização de emoji na intenção de compra de preservativos

A evolução tecnológica tem alterado o paradigma da comunicação em geral, possibilitando novas formas de comunicação. A comunicação mediada por aparelhos eletrónicos (EMC) trouxe a possibilidade das pessoas desenvolverem entre si, ou manterem mais facilmente, comunicações à distância. Este facto é também facilitado pelo contínuo enriquecimento e complexificação da EMC, aproximando-a, cada vez mais, da comunicação cara-a-cara e das pistas não verbais que a caracterizam. Surge, assim, a utilização de emoji em EMC como complemento ao conteúdo verbal de uma mensagem, acrescentando representações gráficas de expressões faciais, emoções, sentimentos, animais, plantas, objetos, entre muitos outros. A utilização de emoji em comunicação ocorre não apenas em EMC, mas também em cenários publicitários, ou seja, na comunicação entre pessoas e marcas. Torna-se relevante perceber como é que esta forma de comunicação se desenrola e como é que as marcas podem beneficiar da utilização de emoji ou serem prejudicadas pela mesma. Realizámos um estudo experimental (N = 170; 63.5% participantes do sexo feminino; Midade = 22,56, DP = 3,25), com o intuito de compreender se a utilização de emoji em embalagens de preservativos tem impacto na perceção de personalidade de marca e, consequentemente, na sua intenção de compra. Os resultados mostram que a intenção de compra de preservativos não beneficiou da inclusão de emoji (vs. controlo). Pelo contrário, a inclusão de um emoji alegre parece ter prejudicado a intenção de compra, dado que a marca foi percebida como menos calorosa. Porém, esta mediação verificou-se apenas entre participantes com baixa frequência de uso de preservativo. Os resultados vão ao encontro de outras investigações ao sugerir que os efeitos da utilização de emoji dependem do contexto em que estes são inseridos.The technological evolution has changed the paradigm of communication in general, allowing for new ways of communication. Electronic mediated communication (EMC) allows the possibility for people to develop, or easily maintain, communications at a distance. This is also facilitated by the continuous improvement and complexity of EMC, bridging this type of communication closer to face-to-face communication and the non-verbal cues that characterize it. Thus, the use of the emoji in EMC is a complement to a message’s verbal content, adding graphical presentations of facial expressions, emotions, feelings, animals, plants, objects, among others. This practice occurs not only when people communicate, but also when brands communicate. Thus, it is important to understand how this form of communication occurs and how brands can benefit, or not, from the use of the emoji in their products. We conducted an experimental study (N = 170; 63.5% women; Mage = 22,56, SD = 3,25) aimed at understanding if the use of emoji in packages of condoms had an impact in the perception of brand personality and, consequently, in the intention to purchase this product. Our results show that the intention to purchase condoms did not benefit from the use of the emoji (vs. control). In fact, the inclusion of a happy emoji decreased the intention to purchase the product, because the brand was perceived as less warm. However, this mediation was observed only among participants with low frequency of condom use. These findings are aligned with results from other studies in this area by showing that the positive effect of emoji usage depend on the context in which they are used

The Nurse as the Facilitator of Patients\u27 Narration: An Educational Intervention

More than one million resident patients live and receive care at certified long-term facilities in the United States, many of whom suffer from depressive symptoms and anxiety. Prior research recommended storytelling as a vibrant nursing intervention to assist long-term care residents in overcoming challenges and emotional pain. However, nurses frequently lack knowledge of successful planning and implementation of narrative reminiscence. This scholarly project was designed to increase nursing competence and confidence in using storytelling as a clinical tool to improve mental health in long-term care, using a quasi-experimental, nonrandomized pretest, intervention, and posttest study design. A convenience sample of 10 long-term care nurses participated in the study. A 10-item knowledge test and three Likert scales were used to measure nurse self-efficacy; data were analyzed using a paired t test and a Wilcoxon Signed Rank test. Findings showed a statistically significant increase in nurse participants’ knowledge regarding mental health concerns in residential care and storytelling’s beneficial effects as a clinical tool. In addition, participants felt significantly more confident to implement evidence-best practice in their daily bedside care and to participate in nursing research after the intervention. However, the project did not create a significant increase in interprofessional collaboration. Recommendations for nursing leadership include intensified research-based nursing education, focused collaboration with professional nursing organizations, and a corporate-wide nursing recognition program. The project added to the current body of knowledge to evidence narrative reminiscence as a powerful nursing intervention and contributed to nursing science by creating a research based practical tool for nurse-patient narrative engagement

Compassion in the STEM Curriculum: Integrating Emotional Peer Support Within Undergraduates’ Classroom Work

Students’ academic success and wellbeing are interconnected, yet university classrooms rarely promote mental health. To bridge the divide between academic and social-emotional learning, I introduced a classroom intervention titled the Care Bear Connection, during which students were required to post a message in Slack offering support to their classmates. In this mixed methods study, quantitative data were collected from first-year undergraduates (N = 36) in two team-based engineering courses (intervention group n = 24; comparison group n = 12). A pre- and post-intervention survey assessed students’ beliefs and experiences in their respective course concerning six compassion-related variables: social connectedness, compassion toward classmates, compassion from classmates, seeking support, offering support, and classroom climate. The qualitative data collected included students’ Slack posts and individual interviews with participants from the intervention group (N = 6). Pre-post survey changes showed no significant differences in the comparison group, while significant pre-post changes were found in the intervention group across all six variables (p \u3c .05). A majority of students reported increases in their sense of social connectedness, competence in seeking and offering support, a supportive classroom climate, compassion toward and from classmates, as well as a dramatic reduction in perceived stigma. The majority of interviews supported these findings, and students also shared how the intervention strengthened team communication and collaboration during their technical projects. Analyses of the Slack posts revealed trends in students’ compassionate communication, including: acknowledging academic stressors, making laudatory and motivational statements, and promoting self-care to their classmates. These findings indicate the potential for compassion-based interventions to enrich academic learning and wellbeing within STEM courses