Effect of an opinion app on expectations and emotional responses of young consumers toward white wines

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of information from the Vivino app (opinion reviews and user ratings) on the response of consumers toward commercial white wines, focusing on the emotional responses evaluated using emojis. Two groups of 160 young consumers (18–35 years old) evaluated eight commercial white wine bottles under two conditions: with and without the Vivino app information. For each wine bottle, the emotional response, expected liking, and purchasing intention were recorded. The emoji survey was effective at capturing relevant emotions elicited by the different wine bottles, discriminating those that evoked approval, love, and joy; laughs and complicity; indifference and disappointment; or disapproval and distrust. When consumers evaluated the wine while having the reviews and ratings from the Vivino app, their emotional response, expected liking, and purchase intention changed. The app information widened the differences between samples both in hedonic expectation and emotional profile. Individual opinion comments affected consumer attitudes more than ratings, especially negative ones.