Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2004
Face Value? Customer views of appropriate formats for embodied
conversational agents (ECAs) in online retailing
Kathy Keeling
Manchester School of Management,
UMIST, UK
kathy.keeling@umist.ac.uk
Susan Beatty
Manchester School of Management,
UMIST, UK
s.beatty@umist.ac.uk
Peter McGoldrick
Manchester School of Management,
UMIST, UK
peter.mcgoldrick@umist.ac.uk
Linda Macaulay
Department of Computation
UMIST, UK
lindam@co.umist.ac.uk
Abstract
Although the motivational benefits of
Embodied Conversational Agents in other areas
have been demonstrated their potential for
relationship building within e-tailing has been
little utilized. In this exploratory paper we
consider customer perceptions of what types of
ECA are appropriate to retailing websites using
data from semi-structured interviews with 30
Internet shoppers. Extrapolating the findings
from the advertising literature concerning
match-up between endorser and brand, product
or retailer we find this will be an important
element in the acceptability and viability of
ECAs on retail websites. It is apparent that great
care has to be taken in matching not only the
physical characteristics of the ECA to
perceptions of the brand, product or retailer but
also to the goals and motivations of potential
customers of a website.
We also find that
introducing customer interaction into the
‘match-up’ mix introduces a new level of
complexity, that of matching customer
expectations. It is this level of service that may
be most difficult for technology and
organizations to meet.
1. Introduction
The consequences of the experience of using
computers and associated software go beyond
the objective outcomes of task fulfillment.
A recent research focus has been on the
influence of computers as ‘social actors’. Users
seem to respond to computers as social actors
when computer technologies adopt animate
characteristics, play animate roles, or follow
social rules or dynamics (25).
For online retailing, the projection of a
believable, engaging, synthetic salesperson or
salescharacter on computer screens through an
embodied conversational agent (ECA) for the
engagement of human users in communication
interaction is of particular interest.
Such ECAs would appear on the screen and
“exhibit … life-like behaviors, such as speech,
emotions, gestures and eye, head and body
movements” (8). They would work cooperatively with human users to initiate
communication, monitor events and perform
tasks (8).
In order to answer questions or do other tasks
for a prospective customer, an ECA on a
retailing website must be able to carry out a twoway communication to find out what the
prospective customer needs and wants. An ECA
would, therefore, appear to act as a virtual sales
assistant and become involved with the customer
in a co-operative exchange (11).
The
collaborative nature of the human-agent
interaction increases the likelihood of
anthropomorphism (9) since the agent will
appear to be capable of goal-directed, purposive
and motivated communication behavior, i.e.,
highly social. The approximation to human
discourse is inclined to elicit social responses.
Thus, for some researchers this generates the
possibilities that humans will react to these
interactions as they would to ‘real’ interactions.
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2. Background
Agents are already designed to be
communication partners with human users and
there is a body of work on the role and
effectiveness of ECAs. Research has also been
initiated on the impact of interaction with
computers and on-screen characters (24; 19; 5).
However, there still is some controversy (8)
and inconsistent results about the efficacy of
animated agents in user interfaces, e.g., one
study of a system with an animated agent found
it was rated more positively on likeability
compared to a system without an animated agent
(18) whereas another study found the reverse
(28).
Moreover, for e-retailing there is a question
whether relationship building through synthetic
characters is an appropriate strategy.
Do
customers using online retail sites desire the help
or even the presence of such ECAs? Given the
diversity of customers, products and salespersons
what is an appropriate format and appearance for
an ECA on a retailing site? Are there likely to
be any undesirable consequences, such as raised
expectations that cannot be met or interference
with product information processing?
When using on-screen persona the influence
of physical appearance and accompanying social
attributions is introduced (7; 5; 15; 16). The
representation of the on-screen character need
not be either realistic or human to invoke
responses and collaboration (24). Whatever the
level of realism, the lifelike embedded
conversational character is highly visual and so
the ‘physical’ attributes should be a subject of
interest.
In advertising, an important consideration is
the ‘consistency’ (31); ‘appropriateness’ (27), or
‘congruence’ (17) between the copy and the
visual component of the communication. This is
popularly termed the "match-up hypothesis"
(17). The match-up hypothesis suggests that
endorsers are more effective when there is a "fit"
between the endorser and the endorsed product.
Initially, there was a focus on the level of
attractiveness of the celebrity and the perceived
fit between brand and celebrity image (22).
However, custom, practice and research
indicate that a contingency approach should be
taken. Studies of the potency of attractiveness
per se have shown ambiguous results and the
effectiveness of celebrities varies by product
(12). The fit between the endorser and the
product or brand is sometimes better when a
member of staff, a real customer or even a
created ‘real’ or cartoon character is used (e.g.,
Jolly Green Giant or Homer Simpson).
This can be explained in terms of associative
learning theory (29). Associative links in
memory are stronger and quicker the greater the
similarity between ‘concepts’ (3).
Concepts are wide-ranging and can include
products, brands, attitudes, people, and schema
for behaviour. Thus, we can expect online
shoppers to prefer on-screen characters that
match their concepts about a) the brand, product
or retailer associated with the website; b) sales
persons and the levels of service associated with
the brand, product or retailer; c) likely customers
of the website.
This range of people, motives and beliefs
gives much scope for unintended consequences
from the presence of ECAs. The presence of a
visual image, especially one that moves, may
lead to interference with text processing (33) and
goal achievement. The learning of pictures may
occur more readily than verbal counterparts,
thus, it may be attended to at the expense of
textual information (7). Visual memory is
thought to have superior long-term capacity and
deteriorate very slowly (4) and so impressions
formed and attributions made from visual
information may outlast textual information.
Emotional reactions to the ECA could also
have effects on attitudes to the brand, product or
retailer. Affective reactions generated during
exposure to an advertisement can outlast the
cognitive representations that had originally
produced them (30).
Thus, longer term assessments of the brand
may also be affected. Although there is some
evidence that the representation of people
through the presence of photographs on websites
may
influence
user
perceptions
of
trustworthiness (10) a note of caution has been
sounded that this is not always in a positive
direction (26)!
Other usability factors of the website could
also be casualties. Retail websites tend to hold a
great deal of information in text and pictures
before adding the extra content of an ECA.
Longer loading times or increased perceptions of
clutter are unlikely to enhance the user
assessment of the website.
In considering match-up, we have been
extrapolating the findings from the advertising
literature concerning match-up between endorser
and brand. However, ECAs go further than
acting as brand endorsers, they interact with the
customer.
Thus, customer behaviours and
expectations may also be changed. The presence
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Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2004
of a life-like character may change people’s
social behavior (28) or may increase customer
awareness of organizational surveillance (23)
and so become more sensitive to privacy issues
as has been argued in the case of loyalty cards in
retailing (13).
Further, interacting with an ECA not only
creates social expectancies but is also likely to
lead the user to expect the system to be as
flexible and intelligent as a human assistant (8;
32).
3. Research questions
Retail websites with ECAs are presently few
and far between and despite a rich background in
the study of animated interface agents, the
application to e-retail has received moderate
attention in the academic literature. The available
literature discusses legal and ethical ‘perils’ of
using life-like characters in e-commerce (14);
preferences for personae with natural facial
expressions, gestures and emotions (20); the
importance of conveying precise and relevant
information (1).
Notwithstanding, there is a
‘dichotomy of opinion’ about the acceptability of
ECA for e-retail (32). They also argue that the
greater the realism of the character the greater
the perceived expectation of intelligence.
The present study is therefore inevitably
exploratory in nature. A primary need in retailing
is to identify correctly those elements of service
that are really important to customers (21). In
this paper we ask Internet shoppers for their
opinions of what types of ECA are appropriate to
retailing sites. Given the diversity of customers,
products and salespersons, what is an appropriate
format and appearance for ECAs on retailing
sites? Is there any support for the match-up
hypothesis?
Are there likely to be any
undesirable consequences, such as raised
expectations that cannot be met or interference
with product information processing? This will
be used to inform future experimental work.
4. Method
The data presented are from semi-structured
interviews with Internet users who have
experience of online shopping. Recruitment of
participants from a limited geographical area was
necessary for practical reasons, in order that
participants could be interviewed face-to-face,
both initially and at several later stages in the
research. A convenience sample was recruited
by publicising the research on a University
website, where e-mails to all staff alert them to
particular news items and provided the necessary
link. A core of original respondents was used to
‘snowball’ a further sample to reach 30
participants and go beyond the University. All
were 18 years and above (minimum age for
obtaining a credit card), used the Internet for
buying goods or services at least every three
months, and lived or worked in Greater
Manchester, UK.
Recruiting
participants
who
were
experienced Internet shoppers ensured that all
would have basic knowledge about the
procedures involved in purchasing online and
would be eligible to take part in a diary study of
their Internet shopping at a later stage.
Semi-structured interviews of between 45-75
minutes were conducted at the participant’s place
of work or home, each participant received a gift
voucher as a token of appreciation.
The lack of animated and conversational onscreen salespeople or salescharacters meant that
participants were unlikely to be familiar with
their use. Therefore, initially, pictures of nine
ECAs presently in use were shown to
participants and discussed. The aim was to
acquaint them with the range of ECA that could
be used. After this, they selected an Internet
shopping site that they used, and discussed the
appropriateness of different ECAs for that site.
Participants were then shown three Internet
sites that display ECAs. The sites were Cross
Country TravCorps with an ECA called Lucyi,
GlaxoSmithKline with an ECA called Nickii, and
MSNBC with an ECA called Earthdogiii. By
asking respondents to suggest appropriate
characters for retail websites we test whether
respondents find the idea natural. By asking for
opinions about suitability of specific ECAs for
specific sites we can gain deeper information on
what makes an ECA appropriate to a retailing
site.
The websites chosen for the study represent a
series from realistic human to cartoon human to
cartoon animal. ‘Lucy’ is a realistic human
representation and responds to questions about
work opportunities in the USA for health care
professionals. She is dressed in green and has
limited movement of her head and shoulders.
‘Nick’ provides information about products for
those wishing to give up smoking on the
Nicorette website. He is portrayed as a cartoon
adult male human with head and shoulders
visible but without movement.
Earthdog
responds to questions about environmental
issues, and is targeted at junior school age
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children. It is a cartoon dog with a globe for its
body and a variety of movements.
Participants were invited to interact with the
ECA using the dialogue box on the screen. After
a short period of interaction, participants were
asked whether or not they thought the ECA was
appropriate on the website and to give reasons
for their opinion. They were invited to suggest
other websites where the ECA might be
appropriate. Interviews were tape-recorded, with
participant consent.
Twenty-nine participants were interviewed
(10 male; 19 female); the 36 - 45 age group was
the largest single group, with four participants
older than this and fourteen in younger agegroups. This age profile is similar to the general
UK online shopper profile. Participants had a
wide variety of occupations and at least two
years’ experience of using the Internet, the
majority (22) used it both at work and at home.
5. Results
Participants were given free choice to choose
one site that they used for their Internet shopping
(i.e., had a personal interest in and familiarity
with) and to talk about what sort of ECA would
be appropriate on it. They had little difficulty in
envisioning appropriate ECAs for websites.
Moreover, this was spread over a wide range of
types of retail website.
Taking the types of site more frequently
chosen, Table 1 below summarizes the
participant suggestions for appropriate ECAs for
book and CD, travel ticket, computer product
and supermarket retail websites.
The results indicate that most ECAs were
suggested because they
a) resembled a person found in the
corresponding off-line situation,
b) could be associated with the site as a whole,
c) would appeal to likely users of the site,
d) represented a product sold on the Internet
site.
Some participants also discussed how they
saw the ECA operating on the site, e.g., the
animated book that opened up to offer
suggestions.
Table 2 below summarizes participant
reactions and comments about appropriateness of
the three ECAs to their original websites, a site
respondents were familiar with, and other
websites. These ECAs represent three levels of
‘realism’; Lucy is most human-like, Nick is a
cartoon human, Earthdog, with a globe for its
body, is an abstract cartoon. This allowed
respondents to compare characteristics suitable
across different types of website.
Participants were able to interact with these
characters, this added a further dimension to
their discussion of appropriateness.
There appears to be support for the match-up
hypothesis over the factors mentioned in the list
above, e.g., match with off-line salesperson,
likely users of the site. However, matching
expectations of provision of relevant and
adequate information also emerges as important.
5.1 Match between ECA and content or
purpose of the website.
This contains elements of (a) and (b) in the
above list.
In the discussion respondents
introduced their expectations from off-line
situations, therefore we discuss them together.
When respondents perceived the website as
dealing with serious or ‘professional’ content
aimed at adults, e.g., smoking cessation; hi-tech
computer purchase; a more serious looking and
conservatively dressed character was required.
Cartoon characters and casual dress were not
appreciated; characters were expected to look
‘professional’ not ‘flippant’. For example, a few
respondents thought Lucy inappropriate because:
“She has got her hair all over and loads of
makeup on and therefore doesn’t look like
a health care professional, I guess.”
(female, 26-35).
The majority, however, thought Lucy a
neutral, helpful figure that was not intrusive.
The range of websites suggested as suitable for
Lucy include giving professional advice and
information, e.g., guidance on recruitment, law
and insurance.
Nick appears on the Nicorette site that gives
information about smoking cessation. Nick’s
casual appearance was disliked by some nonsmoking respondents, who approached the
subject as very serious and ‘medical’.
“… some people might be looking for
more medical information and he looks a
bit casual ….” (female, 36-45)
However, the importance of gauging the
perception of the purpose and seriousness of a
website by the actual intended audience was
highlighted in this case. Two respondents who
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Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2004
Books, CDs,
DVDs (n=8)
Travel tickets
(n=5)
Computer
products (n=3)
Supermarkets
(n=3)
Table 1: Suggested ECAs for selected retail websites
Suggested character
Reason (if given)
A sober character (human)
bookshops are quiet places
A human like Lucy
there’s nothing odd or offensive about her,
she looks like a normal person
Tarzan or an owl
Tarzan goes with Amazon, an owl
symbolises knowledge
Like Cybelle (a cyber character with a
a young person’s site
microphone)
An animated book
it could flip open and offer suggestions
An animated book or CD
representative of the products sold
A personified bookworm
with Harry Potter type glasses on
A non-human (fantasy related, or
easier to represent a wide variety of
animal)
products with something that is not human
A person in train uniform or a more
associated with what you get when you go
comical train driver
to buy tickets
An airline pilot (male)
A straightforward person
not a particularly entertaining site
A human or animal, something living
Internet shopping seems impersonal
A suitcase or something flying
linked to travel
An animated apple
(respondent used Apple Mac computer)
Something that would engage the techy (in recognition of the type of user)
side of your brain
An object, or objects, sold by the
company
A female in orange and navy
resembling the shop assistants found offline
A capable looking woman
mainly female assistants are found in
supermarkets
A cartoon female
people associate women more than men
with shopping
smoked both felt that there was a good match
between Nick’s appearance and the information
he provided.
His casual appearance was thought to be
compatible with the information about ways to
stop smoking. They had no wish to interact with
an ECA who was critical of smoking:
“If it was someone who just came out and
started lambasting you for smoking, I’d be
out of here in seconds.” (male, 26-35).
Compared to Lucy, Nick’s appearance and
age caused respondents to associate him with a
rather different group of products and services.
His casualness was thought appropriate for sites
selling toys for people with small children, or
associated with more casual dress, e.g., vets,
zoos, or DIY and gardening websites. He was
also thought ‘techie looking’, so could be on
sites selling ‘computer packages’ and gadgets.
Sites aimed at children are an exception: the
comments suggest that respondents felt these
need a different approach to attract children, gain
their attention and not “scare them off” even on
sites dealing with subjects such as the
environment.
Thus, twenty-five of the
respondents thought Earthdog appropriate to the
environment website but not serious enough for
most retail sites that were not aimed at children.
5.2 Match between ECA and likely users
of the site
Respondents thought that part of the
appropriateness of the two ‘human’ ECAs (Lucy
and Nick) was that users could identify with
them as being similar to them:
“Well she’s probably the sort of age of
somebody that would be using that site …
and a lot of women are nurses …”
(female, 36-45)
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“ I see that as what people who are
quitting look like, .. if I was quitting I
might want Nick to look like me.”
(female, 26-35).
The majority judged Lucy able to fit with
most sites and likely to appeal to most age
ranges.
On the other hand, Nick’s appearance
aroused mixed reactions and his appeal was
limited. For some, his general appearance and
perceived age was thought to make him look
friendly, if slightly harassed, and appropriate to
sites aimed at older people.
However, there were also a number of
comments that Nick would not match with their
image of likely users of other sites, e.g., DVD
and CD retailers. Those who found him
inappropriate to various sites gave their reasons
as “too old looking”; “he’s bald and he’s only
got one eyebrow”; and “perhaps, I don’t know as
though I really like him.”
Earthdog was thought appropriate to sites
aimed at children because of the special appeal
of ‘fun’ and ‘cute’ characters for children.
5.3 Match with expectations of level of
information appropriate to site.
The introduction of interaction possibilities
gave interesting information. Respondents were
irritated by lack of knowledge or inappropriate
answers to questions and this was an additional
reason they thought characters inappropriate.
Perceptions of lack of expected knowledge
seemed to arouse particularly strong feelings:
“Because he hasn’t been able to answer
any of my questions I think he looks a bit
stupid, but then it’s confirmed by the silly
look on his face.” (female, 36-45)
Participants also varied in the extent to which
they regarded the ECA as presenting the
information. A response to a participant’s
request for information might be attributed
purely to the database, or it might be attributed to
the ECA.
5.4 Unexpected consequences
There was mixed evidence about whether an
ECA would interfere with textual processing.
Self-reports on the state of attention must be
considered with caution as it has been argued
that they are unrelated to the actual state.
Nevertheless, some respondents indicated that
they were able to ignore the character if it adds
little to the interaction for them and they are
engaged in active processing elsewhere:
“I’ve just blanked him out and
concentrated on what we’re typing in and
what answers are coming back again ….”
(male, 36-45)
“I didn’t actually look at the character, cos
you’re reading the words” (male, 46-55)
However, we took no measurements that
might indicate the amount of interference, e.g.,
time on task. Secondly, the presence of another
person usually enhances arousal in an individual.
Thus, realistic on-screen characters may create
feelings of discomfort for some individuals (8).
The three characters in this study were generally
thought ‘innocuous’ by most respondents. They
may not engage a sufficient amount of process
capacity or raise arousal to the point that there is
noticeable (for the respondent) interference with
text processing. However, one respondent was
particularly irritated by Earthdog; its nature, he
said “rubs me up the wrong way to start with”.
Another comment does suggest that
characters that arouse a higher degree of negative
emotions might begin to interfere with
processing:
“… to me it’s really what’s behind that’s
important. The picture itself, so long as
it’s not offensive or is, I suppose,
reasonably bland ….” (male, 36-45)
A further consequence is raised expectations
and reactions if these are not met. Some
participants commented that an ECA,
particularly one portrayed as a human, raised
expectations that their questions would be dealt
with:
“My expectations should be higher
because it’s being portrayed as a person so
… it’s even more disappointing that their
search engine is just as bad as all the
others.” (male, 26-35)
“No point investing all this time and
money, effort and thought in producing
acceptable ECAs that end up being daft,
because you’re setting up an expectation
that this thing can answer questions when
actually it can’t ” (female, 26-35).
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Ambivalent
2
Not appropriate
0
Earthdog
Appropriate 25
Ambivalent 7
Not appropriate
8
Not appropriate 5
Ambivalent
7
Nick
Appropriate 10
Does not do enough
Watching words and text not character
Match
of
globe
with
earth
match with target audience attractive to
children; humorous jolly, smiley face;
prompts are good
(non-smokers) Too casual and flippant not
healthy –looking enough
Lack of knowledge
Too casual, not professional
Blanked him out
Fitted image of site user
Cartoon would appeal to anyone
Content match: Knowledgeable
Smokers casual is compatible
Not professional; clothes not right
Not 100% relevant to task
Character ineffectual
Original site/ appropriateness and reasons
Lucy
Appropriate 18
Visual match to site: correct age, clothes,
professional appearance, etc
Earthdog
Sales: travel holidays, pet goods, toys
and games, children’s books,
Services: entertainment, e-pals, thirdworld issues, geography, ecology
Books CDs, DVDs
Travel site; Computers
Supermarkets
Nick
Sales DIY, gardening, ‘sites for men’,
‘Saga’ holidays, computers, electrical
goods, games, toys and gadgets
Services: news, tax returns, computer
packages, vets, zoos and jokes
DVDs and music
supermarket
Not relevant to the product because child
orientated and not serious enough, or too specific
to environmental site
Attractive character for children, fit between the
global body and world issues
Mis-match between visual image (older, not
attractive’ and product image
“Would not do much for image”
Casual appearance and age associated with
particular markets, e.g., site for people with small
children, older market
Also thought ‘techie looking’
Other sites/appropriateness and reasons
Lucy
Sales: Travel, sportswear; clothes, shoes, Neutral, helpful figure, not intrusive. Could sell
health products, supermarket, sports cars, most things; would probably fit in most places;
would appeal to most age ranges
books,
Matches someone working in off-line situation
Services: Advice, information,
recruitment, business services
Supermarket, airline ticket sales
Not wearing uniform
Computer products
As long as gave up-to date information
Table 2: Appropriateness of 3 chosen ECAs to original and other sites
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This comment and others show that poorly
conceived ECAs on retail sites do not have
neutral effects, rather they can raise quite strong
negative emotions. Whether consciously or not,
most participants saw the ECA as responsible for
the information provided (or lack of it) and at
least partly to blame if the response was not
good. Their irritation could also be projected
onto the ECA. One person said of Nick:
“… if the system for answering the
questions doesn’t work well... I think I
would project all my irritation onto that
character.” (female, 36-45)
There are also dangers of the presence of the
ECA being considered a sales ploy rather than to
assist customers:
“ … well I think they just have to actually
add something to it to be worthwhile
otherwise it’s just a gimmick.” (female,
36-45)
6. Discussion
Real Internet shoppers find it easy to relate
the idea of ECAs to particular websites.
Suggestions given for suitable ECAs for sites
familiar to respondents were not necessarily
realistic or human-like. This supports findings
from the advertising literature that people can
relate to cartoon characters and these may be as
powerful in affecting reactions as actual
salespersons, customers or celebrities.
Nevertheless, the comments on the retail sites
thought appropriate for the three characters
chosen suggest that more cartoon-like and ‘fun’
characters must be used with care.
Although people’s reactions to ECAs differ,
and likes/dislikes affect the judgment of
appropriateness, there are some common factors
in judging appropriateness of appearance:
a) whether a character like that would be found
in the corresponding off-line situation.
b) whether they could be associated with the
site as a whole
c) who the users of the site are likely to be and
their motivations and goals
d) whether the appearance of the character
matches the information provided
e) whether the information provided matches
expectations raised by the character.
Respondents gave a number of examples that
indicate that they expect some similarity of the
character to the user of the website, at least in
approach to goal attainment. Lucy was referred
to as being the right gender, age and general
appearance to appeal to users of the site; Nick
was described as fitting the image of someone in
their 40s who wanted to give up smoking. Where
the ‘human’ ECA was not thought appropriate it
was due to a mismatch between image held of
appropriate dress and behaviour and appearance
and/or mannerisms of the ECA. For example,
some participants implied that Lucy’s
appearance did not match the image they had of
a health care professional. Ambivalence towards
the ECA was explained not by inappropriateness
on the site, but rather that the ECA was felt to be
ineffectual.
This is strong support for the ‘match-up’
hypothesis (17) and, perhaps, the associative
learning explanation (29). Further, respondents
overwhelmingly judged that Earthdog, the most
specifically ‘matched’ character, was the most
appropriate to the site, i.e., the better the match
the more people will think the character
appropriate.
The converse also seems to apply, the more
tailored to a particular site, the less likely a
character is to fit with other sites, e.g., the
number of types of site that Earthdog is thought
appropriate for is smaller than for Lucy or Nick.
Physical attractiveness, or rather lack of it,
does seem to play a role, although mentioned
less often for appropriateness. For most people, it
seems to be one component of fit rather than the
sole reason. Nevertheless, some of the comments
indicate that there is a minimum level of
attractiveness below which it would become
more important.
Interestingly, in Table 1, some choices
suggest that entertainment and social motivations
will
also
influence
perceptions
of
appropriateness. This implies that match-up
could go beyond physical appearance to the
motivations for using the online shopping site.
Support for this is indicated from the difference
in opinions about the suitability of Nick between
non-smokers and smokers. Smokers preferred a
character that implied they would not be
preached at, given very clinical advice or shown
disapproval. Support can also be found in the
suggestions for suitable ECAs that went beyond
physical appearance, e.g., the book that would
open to give suggestions.
It is apparent that great care has to be taken in
matching not only the physical characteristics of
the ECA to perceptions of the brand, product or
retailer but also to the goals and motivations of
potential customers of a website.
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Match-up is also extended in another way.
ECAs go further than acting as brand endorsers,
they interact with the customer. The results
imply there also needs to be a match-up with
customer expectations for normative behaviour
and levels of knowledge and help that are raised
by the presence of an ECA (8; 32).
Our conclusions from this exploratory
research into customer attitudes to ECAs reveals
that match-up will be an important element in the
acceptability and viability of ECAs on retail
websites.
We also find that introducing
customer interaction into the match-up
introduces a new level of complexity, that of
matching customer expectations. It is this level
of service that may be most difficult for
technology and organizations to meet.
6.1. Limitations and further research
The scope of this study was limited to one
geographical area and to people whose first
language was English, or who spoke English to a
high standard. With a sample size of 30, it was
not feasible to compare the 28 native English
speakers with the two who spoke English as a
second language.
Cross-cultural studies in
retailing indicate variations in customer
expectations of service and salesperson
interaction (19). Consumer behavior research in
persuasion also indicates that differences in
values and attitudes result in culture-distinct
associations (2) that might be reflected in ECA
preference. Therefore, the conclusions, whilst
supported by literature and theory, need to be
tested across other cultures and languages,
involving a larger number of respondents.
Respondents in this study were not actually
using websites with an ECA to make a purchase.
Experimental studies with manipulation of level
of realism, type of product and interaction style
are needed to see if these exploratory results
generalize to different e-retail situations and to
examine the effects of ECAs on persuasion,
purchasing and time taken to complete a task.
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Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to the
two anonymous reviewers for their constructive
comments; to our respondents for their time and input;
and for the support of the Manchester Retail Research
Forum and the Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council (UK) (grant no: GR/R66890/01)
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