Good Vibrations: Consumer Responses to Technology-Mediated Haptic Feedback

Individuals often experience incidental device-delivered haptic feedback (e.g., vibrational alerts accompanying messages on mobile phones and wearables), yet almost no research has examined the psychological and behavioral implications of technology-mediated touch on consumers. Drawing from theories in social psychology and computer science, we explore how device-delivered haptic feedback may have the capability to augment consumer responses to certain consumer-directed communications. Across four studies, we find that haptic alerts accompanying messages can improve consumer performance on related tasks and demonstrate that this effect is driven by an increased sense of social presence in what can otherwise feel like an impersonal technological exchange. These findings provide applied value for mobile marketers and gadget designers, and carry important implications for consumer compliance in health and fitness domains.