Product Experience Is Seductive

Abstract

Product experience seduces consumers into believing that they learn more than is actually so. There are several reasons for this. First, experience is more engaging than most attempts at education, both more vivid and intentional, and consequently more memorable. Second, experience is viewed as nonpartisan, devoid of the didacticism of formal education and the self-serving interests of advertisers. Third, much of experience is ambiguous, but not recognized as such. Experiencesupports a pseudodiagnosticity that draws the consumer in as a willing partner in the se-duction. Finally, the endogeneity of tastes allows consumers to accommodate to chosen alternatives and results in infrequent regrets about being seduced. Experience without learning is better than learning without experience. (Anonymous) That all our knowledge begins with experience, there is indeed no doubt... but although our knowledge originates with experience, it does not all arise out of experience. (Immanuel