The importance of functional and emotional content in online consumer reviews for product sales: Evidence from the mobile gaming market

Prior research on online consumer reviews (OCRs) has focused more on the volume and valence of all OCRs as a whole and less on their individual contents. This paper investigates the importance of multidimensional OCR contents, in terms of functional and emotional dimensions, in online marketing. Utilizing a rich dataset of four million online postings and weekly sales for 342 mobile games, this study identifies subcategories of functional OCRs - product quality, product innovativeness, price acceptability, and product ease-of-use - and emotional OCRs - anger, fear, shame, love, contentment, and happiness. The results show that the volume of product quality and ease-of-use OCRs drives more sales than the valence, while the valence of product innovativeness and price OCRs outperforms the volume. Furthermore, both negative and positive emotion-related OCRs moderate the relationship between functional OCRs and product sales. This study offers guidance to firms in managing specific OCR content for superior marketing outcomes.

Automated summary

This study emphasizes the importance of multidimensional OCR contents in online marketing, including the impact of both functional and emotional dimensions on sales. The results show that the volume of product quality and ease-of-use OCRs drives more sales than the valence, while the valence of product innovativeness and price OCRs outperforms the volume.