Within Touching Distances - Customers' Perceived Closeness in Mobile Marketing
(A2020-64082)

AUTHORS

Madeline Barth, University of Mannheim; Sabine Kuester, University of Mannheim; Elisa Konya-Baumbach, University of Mannheim

KEYWORDS

Mobile Marketing; Nonverbal and Verbal Cues; Personalization

ABSTRACT

Despite initial insights regarding the effectiveness of mobile marketing, the understanding of how companies can effectively communicate their mobile marketing initiatives is still limited. Our research sheds light on how closeness-implying nonverbal and verbal cues such as emoticons, linguistic markers, and personal pronouns in mobile marketing notifications influence customers’ purchase intention. In line with construal level theory, we explore the role of customers’ perceived closeness as a potential mediator. Our results indicate that including closeness-implying nonverbal and verbal cues in mobile marketing notifications significantly stimulates customers’ purchase intention. Customers’ perceived closeness mediates this effect. Interestingly, the positive effect of nonverbal and verbal cues is mitigated when communicating mobile marketing notifications that are personalized based on customers’ product preferences.