Is there a Social Impact Paradox in Cross-Channel Communication? A Management Perspective

Abstract

Customers use multiple channels to inform themselves about products and services before making a buying decision. As companies provide information on their owned platforms, their customers experience a multi-channel journey on their way to the company website. While companies try to nudge potential customers into consuming provided information, potential effects of previous customers experiences (such as social media browsing) on the effect of digital nudges (i.e. social norms) and the perception of such guidance are not thoroughly investigated yet. First studies imply that customers react differently to nudges depending on their previous channel experience. This paper contributes by focusing on digital nudging during the pre-purchase phase of the customer journey. The potential effect of social norm nudges on information search intentions and the influence of previous social media usage are investigated. Two online experiments examined previous social media usage as a potential moderator of the social norms nudge efficacy as well as the influence of previous social media usage on the perception of social norms nudges. Results show that previous social media usage influences perception as well as the efficacy of a social norms nudge on a company website in certain circumstances. Although social norms do not always significantly affect user behavior, users that consumed social media before seeing a social norms nudge, have an altered perception of these nudges. Choice architects implementing digital nudges are challenged to carefully consider such effects when applying nudges on their user interfaces.