Avatar Taxonomy: A New Technological Tool to Enhance the Consumer-Brand Relationships

PurposeAvatars, which are used as a technology and marketing tactic, can embody consumer-facing employees and mimic their real-life roles on companies' websites, thereby playing a key role in enhancing the relationships between consumers and brands in the online environment. Academics and practitioners have increasingly acknowledged the significance of the consumer-brand relationship in both traditional and online contexts. However, the impersonal nature of the online environment is considered to be a hindrance to the development of these relationships. Despite the importance of this technology, little attention has been paid to the investigation of the avatar concept from a marketing perspective. This paper explores the nature of the avatar concept, including its main characteristics, dimensions, and conditions as well as the attitudinal and behavioural consequences of avatar users.Design/methodology/approachAdopting the qualitative design, a taxonomy was developed from interviews. In total, 42 interviews were conducted with current university students. 30 participants participated in the exploratory interviews. A total of 12 interviews were conducted during the in-depth stage based on findings in the preceding research.FindingsBased on the qualitative data analysis, a taxonomy was developed. The idea of the taxonomy is summarized in that different dimensions of the avatar are considered the main base (first phase) of the taxonomy. There are consequential three parts: the attitudinal consequences related to the website; the attitudinal consequences related to the brand; the behaviours towards the brand. These behaviours represent the final phase of the taxonomy.Originality/valueBy developing a taxonomy of using avatars on brands' websites, the authors advance the understanding consumer-brands relationships. Using avatars' verbal interactions helps in shaping consumers' cognitive, affective, attitudinal and behavioural responses and add vital empirical evidence to the increasing body of research and practices involving avatar usage in the interactive marketing area

An Avatar a Day Keeps the Stress Away: The Implementation of Avatars as Technostress Relievers on Online Shopping Websites

In contrast to stationary retail, online shopping websites are characterized by the fact that no human salesperson is available to buyers as a reference and supporting function for the purchase. With increasing technological penetration and thus online shoppers facing the challenges of technologically induced stress (technostress), it becomes crucial for e-commerce operators to reduce this impersonality of online stores to avoid negative consequences of technostress. Our study proposes the means of an avatar as a technostress reliever. We empirically assess the indirect effect of technostress on purchase intention mediated by online store quality and moderated by avatar presence on the online store website. Our 2x2-factorial between-subjects experimental study reveals a negative indirect effect of technostress on purchase intention of respondents. Further, our findings show that independently of perceived online store quality the total level of the purchase intention is higher for the presence of an avatar than for the absence of an avatar

Service brand rehab: Diagnosing trust repair mechanisms

This paper aims to understand consumers’ response to the trust repair mechanisms adopted by corporate brands in a service sector context following prominent trust damaging organizational transgressions. Adopting a qualitative approach, six focus group discussions are employed to investigate three high profile consumer trust erosion cases within the service sector. Consumer trust varies by context. Despite the severity of trust damage, corporate brands can recover trust towards their brands amongst consumers not directly affected by transgressions. Not all trust repair mechanisms are equally applicable to all service contexts and re-branding could be used as a trust repair mechanism. Corporate brands in the service sector should focus on sense-making, relational approaches and transparency. Orchestration of trust repair mechanisms needs to be integrated within the trust rehabilitation processes. This study illustrates it is important to reconsider trust repair processes to accommodate context and integrate post-transgression consumer research. Successful corporate brand rehabilitation of consumer trust requires examination of the trustworthiness dimensions consumers express before and after the transgression to select the most appropriate trust repair mechanisms. Findings suggest organizations also have preventative trust repair management programs. This research is the first to empirically apply the conceptual framework of Bachmann et al. (2015) to explore consumer responses to the trust repair mechanisms adopted by corporate brands by context