Too much of a good thing: Promotional visuals and their effect on buying intentions of experiences

Advancements in technology have enabled retailers offering experiential products (such as vacations, dining out, and sports equipment) to steadily increase the volume of promotional images available to consumers throughout their decision-making process. While it may seem intuitive that more visuals lead to better outcomes, this article presents evidence from five studies showing that consumers are less inclined to buy an experiential product when it is promoted with many visuals rather than a few. In study 1a, consumers were less likely to follow up on a newsletter featuring an extensive (vs. limited) set of pictures of an experiential product; study 1b replicated this effect in an online experiment with vacation images. Study 2 identifies a boundary condition—heterogeneous extensive sets eliminate the effect. Studies 3 and 4 demonstrate robustness in a field setting at a zoo (using a trailer video) and in actual choice, where participants preferred the hotel option paired with fewer images. These findings are particularly relevant for retail frontline operations, offering valuable insights into the effective use of visuals when promoting experiential products.