How speaking versus writing to conversational agents shapes consumers’ choice and choice satisfaction
研究发现，消费者与对话智能体（如聊天机器人）互动时，说话适合享乐型产品，打字适合实用型产品，这种匹配能提升选择满意度，并帮助低权益品牌竞争。
Abstract The use of conversational agents (e.g., chatbots) to simplify or aid consumers’ purchase decisions is on the rise. In designing those conversational agents, a key question for companies is whether and when it is advisable to enable voice-based rather than text-based interactions. Addressing this question, this study finds that matching consumers’ communication modality with product type (speaking about hedonic products; writing about utilitarian products) shapes consumers’ choice and increases choice satisfaction. Specifically, speaking fosters a feeling-based verbalizing focus, while writing triggers a reason-based focus. When this focus matches consumers’ mindset in evaluating the product type, preference fluency increases, thereby enhancing choice satisfaction. Accordingly, the authors provide insights into managing interactions with conversational agents more effectively to aid decision-making processes and increase choice satisfaction. Finally, they show that communication modality can serve as a strategic tool for low-equity brands to better compete with high-equity brands.