How Does Visuals Affect Consumer Perception

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2.5 Quality Perception
Consumers infer quality relying on cues ranging from brand name to price, and even advertising endeavours. In consumer research, it is known that consumers form subjective beliefs regarding the product quality based on prior knowledge, as well as cognitive competencies of each individual consumer. Thus, from a consumer perspective, quality research involves perceived quality. Hence, more specifically, perceived quality could be explained as the consumer's judgment about a product's overall excellence or superiority (Zeithaml, 1988). Commonly, consumers desire quality and value, however, these terms have abstract meanings that are difficult to pinpoint (Solomon 2011; Šredl and Soukup 2011). Usually, it is impossible …show more content…

visual metaphor) on a product package has a positive impact on consumer perceptions (Hagtvedt & Patrick, 2008). Similarly, non-probative visuals, those providing no direct evidence for or against a claim, influence consumers’ evaluation of those claims (Mantonakis et al., 2014). According to Mantonakis et al. (2014), visuals might affect perception due to its association with related thoughts and images, making the information about the verbal claim (i.e. brand frame) easier to process. To illustrate, in a study by Mantonakis et al. (2014), consumers agreed to a certain claim (this wine tastes high quality) more often when wine names appeared with visuals versus without photos. Accordingly, this showed that the presence of a visual was associated with both increased quality perceptions as well as taste perceptions. In this case, the ease with which consumers could process the extrinsic product cues affected their sensory perceptions, suggesting that consumer’s ongoing processing experiences influences quality perception. Therefore, in this specific study a visual metaphor (e.g. golden coffee), which represents luxury, will be used to make the information about the verbal claim (e.g. superior blend) easier to process. Consequently, this may lead to an influence in the sensory perception resulting in an increased quality perception of the product due to the association with …show more content…

Additionally, congruence between various modalities, also known as cross-modal correspondence, positively influences overall product evaluation and ultimately improves the decision-making process (Hekkert, 2006; Spence, 2011; Parise & Spence, 2013). That is, consumers attempt to match attributes from one modality (e.g. package design (visual metaphor or brand frame)) to attributes from another modality (e.g. taste experience, quality perception). Consequently, if the modalities are perceived as cross-modal congruent, consumers’ are more intended to purchase the

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