Language and Judgements

Rizzo and team’s work indicates how important word choice is for conclusions drawn; they found that “sensory language (e.g., words like ‘crumble’ and ‘juicy’ that engage the senses) shapes consumer responses to influencer-sponsored content. A multimethod investigation . . . demonstrates that sensory language increases engagement and willingness to buy the sponsored product. . . . these effects are driven by perceived authenticity. Sensory language leads consumers to infer that influencers actually use the product they are endorsing, which increases perceived authenticity, and thus engagement and purchase.”

Giovanni Rizzo, Jonah Berger, Matteo De Angelis, and Rumen Pozharliev.  “How Sensory Language Shapes Influencer’s Impact.”  Journal of Consumer Research, in press, ucad017, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucad017