Abstract
The conversational human voice (CHV) is an extensively studied and adopted communication style in online brand communication. However, in previous research the way in which CHV is operationalized differs considerably: the type and the number of linguistic elements used to establish a sense of CHV in online brand messages varies. Moreover, it is still unknown how CHV operationalizations contribute to consumers’ perceptions of CHV, which consequently could affect their evaluation regarding the message and the brand. In this paper, we addressed these issues by conducting an integrative literature review and a perception experiment, and consequently present a taxonomy of linguistic elements related to message personalization, informal speech, and invitational rhetoric that can be used to operationalize CHV systematically in future studies in online brand communication. Directions for future research and managerial implications are discussed.
Highlights
With the emergence of the internet and especially since the devel opment of Web 2.0, both consumers and brands increasingly commu nicate in an online environment
It is still unknown how conversational human voice (CHV) operationalizations contribute to consumers’ perceptions of CHV, which could affect their evaluation regarding the message and the brand. We addressed these issues by conducting an integrative literature review and a perception experiment, and conse quently present a taxonomy of linguistic elements related to message personalization, informal speech, and invitational rhetoric that can be used to operationalize CHV systematically in future studies in online brand communication
Based on the three main tactics of CHV, we reviewed the literature on concrete linguistic elements that can be used to establish a sense of CHV in online brand communication
Summary
With the emergence of the internet and especially since the devel opment of Web 2.0, both consumers and brands increasingly commu nicate in an online environment. Brands seem to have embraced the Searls and Wein berger’s (2001) ‘markets as conversations’ approach They are pre dominantly present on Facebook and Twitter – 94 percent uses Facebook and 68 percent uses Twitter (Stelzner, 2017) – and have appointed representatives to monitor online consumer messages containing ques tions and complaints about brand-related topics, and, when deemed necessary, to engage in conversations. These practices have become known as webcare (van Noort & Willemsen, 2012). A basic webcare message was included in the experiment which did not contain any linguistic element of CHV
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