An Exploration of Consumer Expectations in Video-Based Online Reviews

Online consumer reviews (OCR) influence the consumer purchase decision-making process. Video-based OCR presents potential capabilities over traditional text- or image-based OCR; however, the video presentation format has not been extensively studied. We aim to address this research gap by asking: how do we leverage the capabilities of video-based OCR and make these videos more useful to consumers in making their purchase decisions? When compared to text- or image-based OCR, the video presentation format can provide improved: 1) peripheral cues, 2) cognitive fit, 3) media richness, and 4) reviewer realism. We present the findings of a user study exploring consumer expectations of video-based OCR. We find that consumers expect high quality video that leverages all four of these capabilities, else there may be no perceived advantage to watching a video-based OCR over viewing text- or image-based OCR.