Advertising's Influence on Subsequent Product Trial Processing

Abstract

Several studies have shown that pretrial ad exposure can positively influence a subsequent product trial experience. In this study, we investigate several specific, positive ad effects on product trial using an experiment that exposes subjects to a trial only, an ad only, or an ad and trial. In general, the pretrial ad appeared to encourage consumers to process a subsequent product trial more deeply, purposefully, and carefully than was the case with the trial alone. Subjects exposed to a pretrial ad rated the subsequent trial higher in diagnosticity, formed more confidently held beliefs, and formed higher expectancy value and purchase intentions. In addition, consumers exposed to an ad prior to trial showed stronger structural relationships among expectancy value, brand attitude, and purchase intentions compared with those consumers that experienced a product trial alone. Such results suggest that posttrial responses are the result of more careful and focused processing of the trial information.

Advertising and product trial were also shown to differ significantly in their ability to foster strongly held beliefs about experiential and nonexperiential product attributes. As expected, advertising was superior at communicating nonexperiential beliefs, and trial excelled at fostering experiential attribute beliefs.