Online Consumer Psychology: Understanding and Influencing Consumer Behavior in the Virtual World by Curtis P. Haugtvedt, Karen A. Machleit and Richard Yalch contains edited versions of papers that were presented at the 2001 Advertising and Consumer Psychology Conference in Seattle, Washington. Published in 2005 the 576 page book has 23 chapters structured in 6 parts: Community, Advertising, Customization, Site Design, Decision Making and Research Tools and Approaches.

The good

- Almost every chapter presents at least one study. Sometimes the results in the experiment are the same with the theoretical ideas but there are cases in which the results of the study don't match the idea in the theory.
- Not the “Make a fortune in 10 easy steps by manipulating people into buying your crap” kind of book. It has a very academic approach.
- You can find a tone of reference to other useful books in it.
- Chapter 15, The Effect of Site Design and Interattribute Correlations on Interactive Web-Based Decisions has a web based choice study that is available online here. It's a good thing to actually see how the experiments were conducted.
- Although the book is quite old it did not leave the feeling of being obsolete. It has a lot of good info.

The bad

- The book's content is primarily from 2001. When we consider the rapid changes in the online world this would chronologically place it right before the dinosaurs went belly up.
- 576 pages. I think they could have made it 350 pages without loosing any meaningful content. Useful tip: if you can't make it trough this review you probably won't make it trough the almost 600 pages.
- Some of the websites mentioned no longer exist. Considering this book was published in 2005 this is further proof of the rapid changes that occur online and the need to frequently update this kind of material.
- Vodaphone? Bauarian Motor Works? Ewww!
- Looks like those dinosaurs didn't have blogs or social networking websites like Facebook because there is no mention about them or how they influence consumers.

Each chapter is written by different authors. 56 names appear on the 23 chapters making for an interesting reading experience.

Part I, Community analyzes the influence of online communities such as bulletin boards and chat rooms on consumer behavior, online word of mouth and pass along emails. If you have any experience with forums and chat rooms, chapter 1 will make for a very interesting read. Both the theory and the experimental results will feel familiar as you will start to identify the ritual behavior that separates the members from the nonmembers in your online community.

The development of the Internet has led to the appearance of new forms of word of mouth communication (more details in the Online word of mouth article). Online word of mouth is different from traditional word of mouth. A lot of interesting aspects like source credibility and the strength of weak ties are tackled in this chapter.

Next up are the pass along emails. Users are split into Viral Mavens and Infrequent Senders. The results are quite surprising as senders were viewed positive, even though the experience of receiving pass-along emails can be negative at times. The number one reason for quashing a message was the sense that the content was old. That feeling of familiarity from chapter 1 will come back as you can find a lot of patterns regarding pass along emails in your online activity.

Part II, Advertising focuses mainly on banner ads and the click-trough rate. A study analyzes the direct and indirect effects of banner ads on banner ad brands and competing brands with very interesting results for both memory and constrained choice.

Next chapter analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the click-trough rate and some techniques that influence click-trough like banner size, animation, mentioning price/brand/”click here” in the banner, using trick banners and so on.

The Click-Through Rate Is an Immediate Effectiveness Measure That Ignores Several Stages of the Persuasion Process.(p.146)

There is also a chapter about advergaming and background ads. This is an intriguing topic because players generally agree with the statement that product placements could add to game realism. So games are one place where consumers want ads.

Part III, Customization starts off by establishing the difference between personalization and customization. The first question this part addresses is the number of attributes a consumer customizes. The second question addresses the presence of a default value.

The authors make a detailed analysis of different types of product selection protocols(assortment, personalization, and customization) as well as various mixes of these types. The protocols are analyzed in terms of their provisions, their demands, and their constraints, with interesting results.

There is also a chapter about bilingual consumers and how second language web-site processing might impact persuasion. An intriguing theory states that a second language ad could be as memorable as a first language ad if nonverbal cues(like pictures and symbols) were provided to facilitate message processing.

Part IV, Site Design, demonstrates that visual consistency in the look and feel of Web sites will affect brand attitudes of visitors to that site. Gender differences and the format that product decision sites use to present information are also examined.

Part V, Decision Making analyzes if the increased availability of information technology will allow consumers to make more rational decisions and examine how new technology affects the consumer decision making process.

The advantages and disadvantages of online and offline shopping are also examined.

There is also a chapter about online auctions and one about health care decisions. I think they could have done without these 2 chapters, especially the one about online auctions. The amount of information provided for these intricate topics is slim. I don't think a 10 page chapter can even scratch the surface of online auctions. It just adds up to the almost 600 pages of the book. Maybe this is a case of less is more.

Part VI, Research Tools and Approaches contains a discussion of the use of the virtual experience environment as a research tool. Using the Web to create an online interactive research space is proposed as a way to provide benefits throughout the research process.

Should you spend your time and money on this book? Depends. Bloggers will be somewhat disappointed because there is no direct content for blogs. However, the information about online communities, banners, factors affecting click-trough rate, word of mouth and site design might become handy.

If you plan on opening your small online shop i think this can help you quite a lot. Almost every chapter has useful information about online shopping and the little things that turn the consumer towards your business and keep him there.