The use of conversational agents (e.g., chatbots) to simplify or aid consumers’ purchase decisions is on the rise. In designing those conversational agents, a key question for companies is whether and when it is advisable to enable voice-based rather than text-based interactions. Addressing this question, this study finds that matching consumers’ communication modality with product type (speaking about hedonic products; writing about utilitarian products) shapes consumers’ choice and increases choice satisfaction. Specifically, speaking fosters a feeling-based verbalizing focus, while writing triggers a reason-based focus. When this focus matches consumers’ mindset in evaluating the product type, preference fluency increases, thereby enhancing choice satisfaction. Accordingly, the authors provide insights into managing interactions with conversational agents more effectively to aid decision-making processes and increase choice satisfaction. Finally, they show that communication modality can serve as a strategic tool for low-equity brands to better compete with high-equity brands.

使用会话代理（例如聊天机器人）来简化或帮助消费者做出购买决策的趋势正在增加。在设计这些会话代理时，公司面临的一个关键问题是是否以及何时建议启用基于语音而不是基于文本的交互。针对这个问题，本研究发现，将消费者的沟通方式与产品类型（谈论享乐产品；撰写功利产品）相匹配可以塑造消费者的选择并提高选择满意度。具体来说，说话会培养基于感觉的语言焦点，而写作则会引发基于理性的焦点。当这种关注点与消费者评估产品类型的心态相匹配时，偏好流畅度就会增加，从而提高选择满意度。因此，作者提供了如何更有效地管理与会话代理的交互的见解，以帮助决策过程并提高选择满意度。最后，他们表明，沟通方式可以作为低资产品牌更好地与高资产品牌竞争的战略工具。