Investigation of the design of personal avatars in online shopping for effective virtual try-on applications

Abstract

Personal avatars are an aspect of visual marketing that is intended to provide consumers with individualised product information. The concept is to show products in relation to virtual, graphical representations of the individual online shopper in order to provide them with a more direct product experience than is possible with conventional product photos or textual information. Existing research on the requirements for personal avatars in online shopping settings and the resulting effects on consumer behaviour are inconsistent and somewhat limited and incomplete. Therefore, this research aimed to determine greater insight into the design of such personal avatars. The research considers the effect of different avatar design on marketing outcomes; undertaking an investigation with potential female users of a virtual try-on application using three designs of personal avatar in a typical scenario of online shopping of clothing. Attitudes and preferences of the participants concerning the personal avatars and the impact on pertinent marketing-related outcomes were collected, analysed and discussed. The three experimental conditions did not generate significant differences on the investigated marketing outcome factors of informativeness, telepresence, “shopping enjoyment”, “decision support satisfaction”, “attitude towards the website” and “perceived risk of purchase”. Neither did the different avatar designs yield significant differences in perception of “avatar similarity to self” by the participants. However, “avatar similarity to self” did have a positive effect on the investigated marketing outcomes of informativeness, telepresence, “shopping enjoyment” and “attitude towards the website”. Whilst these results did not yield hints on avatar design, the data collected on attitudes and preferences of consumers towards their avatar did. A central insight is that the imitation of body measures, body shape, skin colour and hair colour are of essential importance for women. For the aspects body shape, hairstyle, face and posture, a preference for an approximate representation over an exact, detailed representation was identified. Based on the research findings, practical basic design recommendations are derived.