Would you trust me? I´m created – The use of virtual influencers in the cosmetic industry

The ongoing digitalization has not only transformed consumer behavior but also revolutionized how companies target their audiences. Particularly in the cosmetic industry, influencer marketing has become increasingly relevant. A novel development in this area is the rise of virtual influencers (VI), created using computer-generated imagery (CGI). In her master’s thesis, Julia Mergel, a student of our business psychology program, explores the effects of the visual human-likeness of VI on their perceived credibility in the cosmetic industry. The study identifies key factors for successful collaborations between companies and VI.

Research goal

The goal of this research was to understand how the visual human-likeness of VI affects their credibility ratings. The focus on credibility is especially relevant for virtual influencer, because – unlike human influencers – they are not independent entities and every post by them is usually created by a marketing team in the background. The study focuses on the cosmetic industry, where credibility plays a crucial role in consumer purchase decisions. Specifically, the research investigates whether different degrees of human-likeness in VI affect three critical factors influencing credibility: attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise. These three factors are related to each other in an interdependent relationship, collectively creating the perception of credibility of news senders (Ohanian, 1990).

Research overview

VI are CGI-created characters that actively participate in social media and are increasingly used for marketing purposes. Their application is particularly noticeable in the fashion and cosmetic industries. However, up to now the majority of studies on influencer marketing has primarily concentrated on human influencers (Why are influencers perceived as credible by social media users? – Innovation Acceptance Lab), with few focusing on virtual influencers and even fewer examining the effect of visual human-likeness on VI credibility.

The participants in the study were exposed to four different influencers: three VI with varying degrees of human-likeness and one human influencer. The study employed a within-subjects design where each participant viewed all influencers with a different post on a cosmetics product in a randomized order. The VI ranged from highly animated, cartoonish depictions to almost photorealistic, human-like virtual influencers. Participants were then asked to rate the credibility of each influencer and, in addition, to evaluate the three factors underlying credibility: attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise, which were later used as mediators in the analysis.

The study was run as an online experiment involving 119 female Instagram users, all of whom followed influencers.

Main findings

The study revealed that visual human-likeness significantly influences the perception of credibility. It was found that greater human-likeness had a positive impact on credibility ratings up to a certain point: No significant difference in perceived credibility was found between the most human-like VI and the human influencer.

The degree of human-likeness also had an effect on the underlying credibility factors:

Trustworthiness: A higher degree of human-likeness had a significant positive influence on trustworthiness of the VI.
Attractiveness: A higher degree of human-likeness also increased the perceived attractiveness of the VI. Attractiveness plays a central role in credibility evaluations of influencers, as this trait fosters trust among consumers, making the VI appear less „uncanny“ or artificial (Choudhry et al., 2022).
Expertise: The perceived expertise of VI also increased with greater human-likeness. Participants perceived human-like VI as more competent compared to highly animated ones.

The parallel mediation analysis confirmed that all three factors influencing credibility—attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise—served as mediators. Overall, 72.5% of the total variance in credibility ratings was explained after including these mediators (p < .001). Trustworthiness, in particular, had the strongest effect on credibility assessments.

Scepticism toward influencer marketing

Despite the clear trends, the overall findings showed that none of the four influencers (including the human influencer!) received particularly high credibility ratings. On a seven-point scale, the highest mean score was lower than the “neutral” middle point (M = 3.71, SD = 1.32). This aligns with a survey by a digital market research institute, which found that advertising with human influencers is not necessarily perceived as more credible than traditional advertising (nextMedia. Hamburg, 2022). Thus, there may be other reasons, why influencers are so successful at the moment.

In an additional exploratory survey, reasons for and against following VI accounts were examined. Five respondents mentioned following VI out of entertainment, content interest, or curiosity. On the other hand, there were 90 negative responses. The most common reasons were that VI were seen as unrealistic, inauthentic, incapable of real experiences, and thus perceived as untrustworthy. Additionally, some found VI impersonal, and at times, even eerie or threatening. However, these descriptive results are likely influenced by the fact that VI aren’t as popular in Germany as in some American or Asian countries (Ströer Blog, 2023).

Implications

For the cosmetic industry, particularly in advertising on platforms like Instagram, companies and developers of VI should consider the following key factors to enhance the credibility of their marketing campaigns.

Visual human-likeness: Companies should opt for VI with high visual human-likeness to increase credibility and avoid consumer discomfort.
Factors influencing credibility: Companies should prioritize VI that are perceived as trustworthy, competent, and attractive to boost source credibility. Trustworthiness has the greatest impact on credibility, so particular attention should be paid to this factor.
Product categories: Products such as nail polish or lipstick, which enhance aesthetic appeal, are better suited for VI advertising than products intended to correct human flaws.

Conclusion

While there remains scepticism surrounding VI, they are increasingly gaining importance in marketing, especially in the cosmetic industry. Our study shows that greater visual human-likeness positively influences the perception of attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise—key factors influencing credibility. Companies should leverage these insights to tailor their marketing strategies around VI and maximize the benefits of this innovative technology.

References

Choudhry, A., Han, J., Xu, X. & Huang, Y. (2022). „I Felt a Little Crazy Following a ‚Doll'“: Investigating Real Influence of Virtual Influencers on Their Followers. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 6(GROUP), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1145/3492862

NextMedia.Hamburg (Hrsg.). (2022). Authentisch, aber bitte unpolitisch? So standen die Befragten zu Influencer*innen. Verfügbar unter: https://www.nextmedia-hamburg.de/umfrage-zu-influencerinnen-lieberauthentisch-und-unpolitisch

Ohanian, R. (1990). Construction and Validation of a Scale to Measure Celebrity Endorsers‘ Perceived Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Attractiveness. Journal of Advertising, 19(3), 39–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1990.10673191

November 23, 2024September 24, 2024

Heart vs. Brain: The influence of emotional and informative advertising

In an era in which advertising spending has risen excessively despite the flood of information, only about 5% of messages struggle to get the attention of potential consumers (Kroeber-Riel, 2015). Especially in saturated markets, such as the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector, advertisers are subjected to a high level of competitive pressure (Naderer et al., 2011). Today’s demand for advertising spots is clear: they need to stand out and catch attention in order to be effective at all (Levenson, 2011).

In this challenging environment, emotional marketing relies on the influence of the decision-making process without presenting offering rational arguments. Our latest study aimed at highlighting the effectiveness of more emotional compared to informative advertising. The central question was to find most effective advertising strategies to have a sustainable impact on respective target groups.

Research objective:

The study was conducted by Svenja Greitmann and takes a look at the world of advertising in the midst of a real abundance of information. The aim was to assess the effectiveness of emotional compared to informative advertising in the field of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). It further investigated differences with regard to gender and product categories. The outcome may be helpful for companies looking for the most effective advertising strategies.

Method:

Based on a preliminary study, two product categories were selected, one that was utilitarian (glass cleaner) and one that was hedonic (soft drink).

For each category a product from a fictitious brand was created. And for each product, two social media spots were made that either were emotional (e.g., by showing positive pictures like smiling people using the product) or information (e.g., by giving positive information about product ingredients). The emotional spot was expected to be especially effective with the hedonic product, whereas the informational spot should be more effective with the utilitarian product.

The main study had an experimental 2x2x2 factor-between-subject design to examine cause-effect relationships. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four advertising spots to systematically measure the impact of advertising appeals and product categories. In addition, gender of participants was assessed.

Sample:

The sample consisted of 185 adults.

Key Findings:

Contrary to our expectations, the study showed overall an advantage of the informational over the emotional spots. However, there was also a three-way interaction found. For men, the expected interaction pattern showed, i.e. emotional spot was more effective with the hedonic product, whereas the informational spot was more effective with the utilitarian product.

This effect was not found for women, which may be due to a different relevance of nutrition and health information when buying a soft drink. This may explain, why informational advertising was more effective with soft drinks for female participants.

Thus, informational advertising seems to be relevant if the product category shows a higher level of involvement (e.g., due to health issues)

Conclusion:

This study investigated the effectiveness of emotional and informative advertising on two different Fast Moving Consumer Goods. The results showed that informative advertising is superior, contrary to the assumption that emotional stimuli should be more effective with low-involvement products. There is a need to clearly understand the relevance of a product for a selected target group in order to find the best advertising strategy. Overall, advertising research remains relevant in the face of changing consumer needs, but requires continuous adaptation and refinement of advertising strategies.

References

Kroeber-Riel, W. (2015). Strategie und Technik der Werbung: Verhaltenswissenschaftliche und neurowissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.

Levenson, R. W. (2011). Basic Emotion Questions. Emotion Review, 3(4), 379–386. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073911410743

Naderer, G., Balzer, E. & Batinic, B. (Hrsg.). (2011). Qualitative Marktforschung in Theorie und Praxis: Grundlagen, Methoden und Anwendungen. Wiesbaden: Gabler.

September 13, 2023Juni 10, 2023

Which advertising appeal works best? – An experimental study on emotional and informative advertising for sustainable products

While an earlier blog post focused on emotional advertising and its positive effect on advertising success, this post summarizes a study which extents this research by including sequentially improving advertisements, i.e. spots that start with a negative emotion but move towards a positive emotion in the end. The study concentrated on a sustainable product relevant for Generation Z presented on the social media platform Instagram via videographic stimuli (see also our blog post series about sustainable consumption).

„Which advertising appeal works best? – An experimental study on emotional and informative advertising for sustainable products“ weiterlesen

August 16, 2023Juni 10, 2023

How do online advertisements become viral? – An investigation of emotional advertising

Current market conditions and today’s information overload require advertisers to drastically change their strategies. In fact, informative advertising is increasingly losing its effectiveness. An alternative approach is emotional marketing (O’Shaughnessy & O’Shaughnessy, 2002), which aims at influencing consumers‘ buying decisions by advertising on an emotional level. Emotions have the ability to impact thoughts, behaviours, and other fundamental processes (Levenson, 2011). In addition to the arousing effect, emotions also have other positive effects, such as improved reception of the advertising message or generally an increase in consumers’ advertising acceptance. Viral marketing takes this advertising approach one step further, as it relates to consumers voluntarily forwarding advertisements on social media. This post summarizes two studies which explored the effect of emotions on the likability and ultimately virality of online advertisements.

„How do online advertisements become viral? – An investigation of emotional advertising“ weiterlesen

April 21, 2021Januar 5, 2023

Do we trust product reviews? Acceptance factors behind electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM)

The modern world of consumption is characterized by the steadily growing e-commerce sector and a large variety of shops, brands and providers. According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office (2019), 84% of Germans have already ordered something online and almost a third of users make at least one online purchase per week (Statista, 2019). These numbers have grown since the pandemic, as 36% of Germans indicate that they now purchase more products online (Bitkom, 2020). In order to make the right purchase decision in this unmanageable variety of offers, consumers are increasingly orienting themselves towards recommendations from other customers who have already bought a product and who share their experiences with other users (Lis & Korchmar, 2013). While in the past buyers were mainly influenced by advertising and personal sales advice, studies have shown that today many consumers not only proactively seek digital recommendations, but also prefer them over traditional information sources (Bickart & Schindler, 2001; Heckathorne, 2010; Mourali et al., 2005). This digital communication between consumers is known as electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and the most relevant form are online product reviews (Lis & Korchmar, 2013).

„Do we trust product reviews? Acceptance factors behind electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM)“ weiterlesen