Crafting to Perfection

Crafting to Perfection

The effect of Perceptual Fluency in craft beer labels

on Taste Expectations and Purchase Intention

Mitchell Oost - S3260968

Master Thesis Defence 26-06-2018

MSc Marketing

First supervisor: Dr. Y. Joye

Background

› Craft beer is booming!  Competition tense

› How to influence consumers?  Packaging, easily controlled by

firms

› Consumers use visual design to evaluate products



Design important in decision making process

› Taste important factor for purchasing craft beer

› People hold positive attitudes, reactions and behaviour towards

stimuli that take little effort to process



Most purchase decisions made on the spot

› Perceptual fluency  ease of identifying and processing visual

elements

Literature

› Perceptual fluency



Positive attitudes, evaluations, reactions and behaviour



Purchase intention influenced by attitudes and evaluations

› Simplicity/Complexity



Amount of presented information in stimulus



Higher taste evaluations hedonic products

› Colour contrast



People process stimuli with high contrasts at a quicker rate

(Unkelbach, 2007).



Colour influences consumers’ perception on product

› Attractiveness



Fluency enhances attractiveness



Attractive physical appearance influences consumers

when they are making purchase decisions

(Cooper & Kleinschmidt,

1987).



Attractive products are perceived as better tasting

al., 2003).

› Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics



Consumers with high levels of CPVA find product design

more important

(Bloch et al., 2003).



Visual design important?  Higher taste ratings

(De Bono et

Methodology

› 2x2 between-subjects design, random (N = 130)

Results: Conditions

Simple

Complex

Low contrast

High contrast

C

ond

tit

ion M

ea

ns

Colour contrast

0 0.25 0.5 0.75

Purchase intention

Taste intensity

Attractiveness

Correlations

Complexity

Purchase

Intention

Sharpness*

Sweetness* Attractiveness

Correlations

Complexity

Attractiveness (mediator)

› Attractiveness mediates effects of colour contrast and complexity

on purchase intention

0 0.25 0.5 0.75

Purchase intention

Sweetness

Correlations

Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics (moderator)

Low CVPA

High CVPA

P er cei ved T ast e in ten si ty Low Contrast High Contrast 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Low CVPA

High CVPA

Discussion

› Higher colour contrasts associated with higher,

attractiveness, purchase intention and perceived taste

intensity.

› People seem to prefer moderate level of complexity

(Palmer et

al, 2013).



Berlyne’s model of arousal

› Consumers are more likely to purchase a craft beer when

they find the label of a craft beer attractive.

Limitations

› No results between conditions and DV’s (only perceived)



No truly significant difference between complexity

conditions



Complex not perceived as being actually complex  Not

less fluent?

Questions?

References

› Bloch, P. H., Brunel, F. F., & Arnold, T. J. (2003). Individual Differences in the Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics Individual differences in the centrality of visual product aesthetics : Concept and Measurement.

Journal of Consumer Research 29(4), 551-565.

› Bloch, P. H. (1995). Seeking the Ideal Form: Product Design and Consumer Response. Journal of

Marketing, 59(3), 16-29.

› Cooper, R., & Kleinschmidt, E. (1987). New products: what separates winners from losers? Journal of

Product Innovation Management, 4(3), 169–184.

› DeBono, K. G., Leavitt, A., & Backus, J. (2003). Product Packaging and Product Evaluation : An Individual Difference Approach. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33(3), 513-521.

› Delwiche, J. (2004). The impact of perceptual interactions on perceived flavor. Food Quality And

Preference, 15(2), 137-146.

› Janiszewski, C., & Meyvis, T. (2001). Effects of Brand Logo Complexity, Repetition, and Spacing on Processing Fluency and Judgment. Journal of Consumer Research, 28(1), 18–32.

› Mantonakis, A., Galiffi, B., Aysan, U., & Beckett, R. (2013). The Effects of the Metacognitive Cue of Fluency on Evaluations about Taste Perception. Psychology, 4(3), 318-324.

› Palmer, S. E., Schloss, K. B., & Sammartino, J. (2013). Visual Aesthetics and Human Preference. Annual

Review of Psychology, 64(1), 77-107.

› Reber, R., Schwarz, N., & Winkielman, P. (2004). Processing Fluency and Aesthetic Pleasure: Is Beauty in the Perceiver’s Processing Experience? Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8(4), 364–382.

› Unkelbach, C. (2007). Reversing the truth effect: Learning the interpretation of processing fluency in

judgments of truth. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, 33(1), 219–230. › Wang, E. S. T. (2013). The influence of visual packaging design on perceived food product quality, value,

and brand preference. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 41(10), 805–816. › Winkielman, P., Schwarz, N., Fazendeiro, T. a, & Reber, R. (2003). The hedonic marking of processing

fluency: Implications for evaluative judgment. The Psychology of Evaluation: Affective Processes in