Image-text inconsistency effect on product evaluation in online retailing

This study examined the cognitive influence of inconsistency between image and text of product description. We found that the inconsistency hampers processing fluency, which in turn, negatively influences product evaluation. The effect was asymmetric, stronger when the image was negatively, rather than positively, discrepant from the text. Since people use the text as an anchor in resolving such discrepancy, the effect is strengthened by the negative affect when the value represented by the image is inferior to what is described in the text. The study provides insights for the retailing managers of e-commerce operations as well as flyer-based promotions.