Digital services provide cost efficiencies for firms and convenience benefits for customers, but they tend to lack a human touch. While prior research has well established that virtual frontline employees can compensate for this drawback by creating an automated social presence and engaging consumers socially, research on virtual companions (i.e., co-consumers) is scarce. This lack is surprising given that the positive effects of shared consumption are well established for traditional consumption and service experiences (Delre et al., 2016). Drawing on the concept of automated social presence (ASP) (van Doorn et al., 2017), our research aims to show that virtual companionship creates a perceived social presence, which in turn fosters enjoyment and satisfaction with the digital service (H1). Further, we draw on the “similarity-attraction effect” (Arndt et al., 2021, p. 558) and seek to show that increasing the perceived similarity of the virtual companion amplifies these and other customer outcomes, mediated by perceived connectedness (H2; Krämer et al., 2011).

In total, three studies were conducted. Study 1 and 2 were scenario-based experiments with runners who were presented a running app simulation depicting the user with vs. without a virtual companion. For Study 3, participants used a wine learning platform, where they traveled online with a virtual companion to several global wine regions. In a 2 x 2 between-subjects experimental design, we manipulated perceived similarity towards the virtual companion by informing vs. not informing participants that their virtual travel buddy shares their interest and character. Further, we manipulated companion type (human voice vs. artificial voice). Hypotheses were tested with mediation analyses using the PROCESS tool.

The results of Study 1 show that virtual companionship increases enjoyment and satisfaction, mediated by perceived social presence. Study 2 replicates these effects in a competitive environment regardless of whether an inferior or superior running companion was present. These results support H1. The results of Study 3 provide support of H2 in the human but not in the artificial voice group. Specifically, perceived similarity of a virtual companion with a human voice increases customer outcomes (i.e., enjoyment, satisfaction, instrumental value, and positive WOM). This effect is fully mediated by perceived connectedness, ruling out competing mediators such as warmth, competence, and psychological ownership. For the companion with an artificial voice, no such effects were found.

Our research makes several contributions to the service literature. First, we show that a virtual companion adds a human touch to digital services, thus inducing positive effects on users. This is because customers perceive this virtual "other" as a social entity and appreciate its presence. Second, customers appreciate virtual companionship even in a competitive environment, that is, a potentially stressful situation. Third, increasing perceived similarity towards virtual companions with a human (not with an artificial) voice induces positive effects on customers as they feel more connected with the virtual other. Managerially, these results suggest that augmenting digital services with virtual companions is beneficial, particularly when consumers perceive greater matching with virtual companions who have human-like voices.

Digital is key for customer shopping. A recent survey by Eurostat (2020) indicates that 73% of internet users shop online and Publicis Sapient and SalesForce showed that 87% of consumers begin their “hunt for a product” in digital channels. Interactive recommendation systems (IRS) advice customers about what to buy thanks to an interactive dialog. Greatly appreciated by retailers in diverse markets such as electronics (Walmart), beauty (Garnier) or wine (Carrefour), IRS personalize the customer experience and drastically simplify decision-making.

Despite their growing popularity, little is known about the impact of IRS on customer attitudes and behaviors. Researchers in the service marketing (Pallant, Sands & Karper, 2020) and information system (Li & Karahanna, 2014) fields call for more investigation about this topic. Though most research focuses on the purchase intention for the recommended product, IRS are also likely to foster engagement and revisit. Furthermore, whereas past research concentrates on usefulness and enjoyment values associated with IRS usage, IRS could also lead to other benefits such as epistemic and self-expressiveness ones.

In an outgoing research project, we investigate the perceived value of IRS and how it translates to consumer positive word-of-mouth, store patronage and purchase intention. Building on perceived value, recommendation systems and mass-customization literatures, we develop a model including different perceived benefits and costs and their impact on positive word-of-mouth, store patronage and purchase intention, mediated by satisfaction.

We test the model on the wine product category with 140 customers of a grocery retailer and on the food supplements product category with 913 customers of a well-known food supplements actor. In both cases, participants used a specific IRS and obtained a real personalized recommendation.

Using structural equation modelling we demonstrate the importance of utilitarian, epistemic and self-expressiveness benefits in predicting customer satisfaction, revisit, purchase intention and word-of-mouth. We also investigate interesting moderators such as technology familiarity, product expertise and involvement.

Our findings deepen the understanding of IRS perceived value with additional benefits such as epistemic and self-expressiveness, which have often been overlooked by researchers and practitioners. It encourages examining which software characteristics potentially enhance such perceptions.

Furthermore, this study opens interesting research questions such how the perceived value of the IRS can impact the perceived value of the recommended product. This paper is part of a larger research project that will attempt to answer to these questions.

Keywords: interactive recommendation systems, perceived value.

Digitalisation and advancements in technology are fundamentally changing B2B relationships (Obal & Lancioni, 2013; Hofacker et al., 2019). Supplier-buyer relationships are increasingly computer-mediated and dependent on technology (Obal & Lancioni, 2013; Pagani & Pardo, 2017), and an increasing number of touchpoints across various channels contributes to complexity in customer journeys (Cortez & Johnston, 2017). Moreover, the role of digital communications in influencing purchase decisions has increased, and organisations are increasingly utilising digital content marketing to drive engagement (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016; Hollebeek & Macky, 2019). Understanding the impact of technology, such as artificial intelligence, on marketing practices and customer experiences (across a wide spectrum of settings) is now a key research priority (Marketing Science Institute, 2020; Ostrom et al., 2021). To contribute to this emerging area of work, this study focuses on marketing automation, a software tool used to automate marketing tasks including email marketing, web analytics, data integration and campaign management (Bagshaw, 2015; Buttle & Maklan, 2019).

The study aims to understand how marketing automation impacts customer engagement in B2B settings with a specific focus on the role of marketing automation in supporting an organisation’s engagement marketing efforts. The research is qualitative and based on 29 in-depth phenomenological semi-structured interviews. The sample consists of both in-house digital marketers working with marketing automation in B2B organisations (14) and digital marketers working with marketing automation in digital marketing agencies (15) in both Finland and the UK. Participants were selected based on their expertise and experience of working with marketing automation and content marketing strategies in B2B settings. Interviews took place over Zoom and were an average of 76 minutes.

Findings centre around the following areas. Firstly, the data reveals promising insights into online pre-purchase engagement behaviours, and the role that marketing automation plays in facilitating these interactions. It seems that engagement is journey-dependent, manifesting in different ways at different stages of the customer journey and these instances can be effectively stimulated and captured using automation. Secondly, the data reveals insights to the role of marketing automation as a relationship-building tool, providing insights on its utilisation for nurturing B2B relationships throughout the customer journey. In particular, the use of marketing automation reduces the reliance on human relationships at earlier stages of the customer journey. Finally, early analysis suggests a growing link between marketing automation and personalisation at scale, challenging standard thinking in B2B regarding standardisation of automated services. Overall, embryonic findings suggest that automation can revolutionise B2B relationships and allow firms to stimulate engagement across the customer journey.

This study contributes to both engagement research and content marketing research, by a) enhancing understanding of engagement and content marketing in B2B settings, and b) identifying connections between engagement and marketing automation. While engagement is an often-mentioned goal of content marketing, few studies consider how it can be used to trigger engagement or address the role of technology in this process. This is also one of the first studies to consider the relationship between marketing automation and engagement.

Augmented reality (AR) is heralded as a tool that is increasingly finding its way in marketing outcomes such as improving decision comfort (Hilken et al., 2017), increasing trust, and reducing risk (Alimamy et al., 2017), improving customer experiences (Chylinski et al., 2020; Flavian et al., 2019), and increasing purchase intentions (Yim et al., 2017), among others. AR is unique in that it provides the ability to overlay the physical world with digital content, effectively bridging the physical and digital world to create immersive omnichannel customer experiences (Hilken et al., 2018). while AR has been found to have a positive effect on customers and service providers, the mechanisms in which customers go from being interested in the technology to being inspired to co-create is not yet understood. Moreover, the way in which AR could potentially lead to co-destruction of experiences is also often overlooked within the AR value co-creation literature. These gaps motivate this paper which investigates the impact of AR marketing activities on customer inspiration and value co-creation or destruction. More specifically, the research has three research questions: a) Are customers inspired by the marketing activities that AR affords? b) Does inspiration in AR activities enhance customer empowerment and decrease skepticism? c) does a reduction in skepticism and an increase in perceptions of empowerment inspire customers to co-create value and improve the brand relationship performance?
To answer the research questions of this research, a company was recruited and requested participants to download and use an AR application that they are familiar with to collect survey data on perceptions of AR marketing activities which, according to the work of Chen & Lin (2019), Godey et al (2016), Kim & Ko (2012) included trendiness, entertainment, interaction, customization, as well as augmentation quality (of the AR experience). Additionally, skepticism and empowerment were also measured in the survey as the marketing activities have been found to decrease skepticism and enhance perceptions of empowerment (Chen & Lin, 2019; Godey et al., 2016). The dependent variables we measured were willingness to co-create and brand performance relationship.
We predict that the results of this study will confirm that benefits of AR affordances extend beyond initial hype and enable customers to be inspired to co-create with the brand because of a reduction in skepticism and an increase in empowerment. Indeed, we believe that skepticism and empowerment will mediate the relationship between being inspired from the AR affordances to being inspired to co-create (co-destruct) and will essentially improve (diminish) brand relationship performance. This finding, if confirmed, will offer novel theoretical implications as it would further develop an understanding of the mechanisms in which customers can reach a point of co-creating value as well as improving (diminishing) brand relationship performance. The findings of this research will also inform managerial thought as it will produce results that will help practitioners in understanding the fundamental value of the technology affordances as well as when and how to implement the technology.