A ZMET Study of Real Meanings on Virtual Experiences in Young Consumers: An Abstract

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) is a phenomenon of creating experiences, thanks to the technological advances that allow inducing scenarios that appear to be real in the minds of those who are exposed to different situations through perceptions (González-Franco and Lanier 2017).

This abstract aims to contribute to the emerging body of VR literature by eliciting deep meaning of VR experiences in consumers who have had VR experiences and discuss the broad implications for marketers.

Through a qualitative research, using Zaltman Elicitation Metaphor Technique (ZMET), a projective methodology spanning photographs and metaphors, this abstract shows VR meanings and consumers’ responses at psychological and, interestingly, physiopsychological levels. With a sample of 350 undergraduate business students and under the stimulus of a recent VR, the resulting constructs were grouped into a hierarchy map whose dimensions are the following: emotional consequences, product attributes of gadgets, physiopsychological responses, and values and consumers’ traits.

Results from this projective study shed light on the consumer’s profile, consumer’s motivation, and deep meanings to VR experiences. First, physiopsychological responses lie in positive-negative continuum emotions and thoughts that were elicited during the process: tranquility, joy, and euphoria were the most positive emotions, whereas fear, despair, and disorientation in the negative side of the projective spectrum. Marketers need to be aware that VR categories are not one-size-fit-all tactic in experiential marketing. Instead, different consumers show different responses. Marketers need to provide valuable, vivid, immersive VR experiences to deliver emotional value and brand value. Second, physiological responses are noteworthy. Participants reported body responses during the VR experience. This suggests an under-researched dimension of customer experience. Until recently, affections have been included in research frameworks, but to the best of our knowledge, physiological responses remain absent. Researchers can use theories as flow theory, which postulates that the individual can enter into mental states while performing an activity or task—the VR experience. Such mental states represent instants of complete involvement, energized focus, and are related to joy and other positive emotions. This would avoid negative consumer’s reactions. Third, participants associated VR experiences to values as happiness and freedom. Brands utilizing VR need to fit the experiences with consumers’ values. This study shows that VR experiences involve cognitive, emotional, and physiological dimensions, a fact that calls to develop such branding dimensions.