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Informational or emotional appeals in crowdfunding message strategy: an empirical investigation of backers’ support decisions

  • Original Empirical Research
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Abstract

Different types of crowdfunding backers adopt various social and economic roles, beyond just financial support. Yet the most appropriate message strategy for attracting these different types of backers remains unclear. To fill this gap, using insights into advertising appeals and the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), we propose a conceptual framework reflecting how the emphasis of the appeals in a crowdfunding message might influence support decisions by two types of backers: consumers and investors. Objective data from a crowdfunding website reveal that appeals that emphasize information (emotion) exert more positive persuasive effects on consumer (investment) backers than on investment (consumer) backers. When devising the appeal emphasis, entrepreneurs thus must make a trade-off while also considering contingent factors such as decision control, social orientation, and reward tangibility. The practical implications of these findings suggest that entrepreneurs should activate backers’ information processing routes differentially, using distinct appeal emphases, rather than relying on an undifferentiated message strategy.

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Notes

  1. See https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2016/08/89260-kickstarter-announces-new-feature-backers-can-now-follow-creators-directly-first-find-projects-launch/.

  2. See http://ncfacanada.org/crowdfunding/.

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Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholar (71725003), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No.71502006) and the Supporting Plan for the Construction of High-level Young Talents in Beijing’s Universities (CIT&TCD201904063).

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  1. Each author contributed equally.

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  1. University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China

    Diandian Xiang, Leinan Zhang & Yonggui Wang

  2. Beijing Union University, Beijing, China

    Qiuyan Tao

  3. Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China

    Shuang Ma

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  1. Diandian Xiang
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Correspondence to Yonggui Wang.

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Xiang, D., Zhang, L., Tao, Q. et al. Informational or emotional appeals in crowdfunding message strategy: an empirical investigation of backers’ support decisions. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 47, 1046–1063 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00638-w

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