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Does a big Duchenne smile really matter on e-commerce websites? An eye-tracking study in China

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Abstract

The smile is the most common and universal human facial expression. This study investigates the joint effect of a model’s smile type and intensity on consumers’ attention and purchase intention. A 2 (smile type Duchenne smile vs. non-Duchenne smile) × 2 (smile intensity high vs. low) eye-tracking experiment was conducted to collect data on the eye movements of 52 female participants and their purchase intentions. Results showed that the product paired with a Duchenne smile drew more attention from the participants with stronger purchase intentions than a non-Duchenne smile. Moreover, smile intensity moderated the effects of smile type on the participants’ attention to the packshot (i.e., product picture) and product description. Specifically, when the smile intensity was low, a Duchenne smile drew more attention to the packshot and description than a non-Duchenne smile did. However, the effect was reversed for a smile with strong intensity.

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  1. http://www.cnnic.net.cn/hlwfzyj/hlwxzbg/hlwtjbg/201601/t20160122_53271.html.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No: 71672170, No: 71272167, and No: 71471163).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Qiuzhen Wang, Lei Wang & Chang Ouyang

  2. Department of Computer Science & Information Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Zhengmin Xu

  3. Department of Business Administration, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong, China

    Xiling Cui

Authors
  1. Qiuzhen Wang
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  2. Zhengmin Xu
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  3. Xiling Cui
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  4. Lei Wang
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  5. Chang Ouyang
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Correspondence to Lei Wang.

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Wang, Q., Xu, Z., Cui, X. et al. Does a big Duchenne smile really matter on e-commerce websites? An eye-tracking study in China. Electron Commer Res 17, 609–626 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-016-9237-4

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