AI-based chatbots in conversational commerce and their effects on product and price perceptions

The rise of AI-based chatbots has gradually changed the way consumers shop. Natural language processing (NLP) technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are likely to accelerate this trend further. However, consumers still prefer to engage with humans and resist chatbots, which are often perceived as impersonal and lacking the human touch. While the predominant tendency is to make chatbots appear more humanlike, little is known about how anthropomorphic verbal design cues in chatbots influence perceived product personalization and willingness to pay a higher product price in conversational commerce contexts. In the current work, we set out to test this through one pre-test (N = 135) and two online experiments (N = 180 and 237). We find that anthropomorphism significantly and positively affects perceived product personalization, and that this effect is moderated by situational loneliness. Moreover, the results show that the interaction between anthropomorphism and situational loneliness has an impact on the willingness to pay a higher product price. The research findings can be used for future applications of AI-driven chatbots where there is a need to provide personalized and data-driven product recommendations.