Less Is More When Learning By Analogy: the Disruptive Impact of Attribute Information on Consumers' Benefit Comprehesion of Really New Products

The presented study had two purposes. First, it pursued to demonstrate that it is more effective to use analogies in advertisements for really new products to increase consumers’ comprehension of the new product’s benefits than not to use analogies. Second, it aimed to test the (counterintuitive) assumption that inclusion of product attribute information in the advertisement in addition to the analogy would actually frustrate benefit comprehension. The results of the experiment showed that advertisements with an analogy lead to greater benefit comprehension than advertisements without an analogy. Further, it is more effective in print advertising in managing consumer learning of a new product’s benefits to use an analogy without than with additional product attribute information. We discuss these findings and outline directions for future research.

Citation:

Amina Ait El Houssi, Kaj Morel, and Erik Jan Hultink (2009) ,"Less Is More When Learning By Analogy: the Disruptive Impact of Attribute Information on Consumers' Benefit Comprehesion of Really New Products", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 467-472.