Research indicates that haptic information, in other words, information the consumer acquires by touching the product with his hands, is important in the evaluation of products that differ in terms of their material characteristics, such as texture, hardness, temperature and weight. The presence of haptic information differs across products, consumers and situations. Hindering the ability to touch a product, for instance through the use of a display, may impede the use of haptic information, which may in term lead to a diminished product evaluation and to frustration in those consumers who like to touch products. When products cannot be touched or when they are (temporarily) not available, one may replace some of the missing haptic information by adding practical haptic descriptions and images. For consumers who do not have a great need for haptic information, a visual cue or image of the product may be sufficient. However, for consumers with a high need for tactile information, this will only partially compensate the missing information. A description of functional haptic product information (i.e., information on texture, hardness, weight, and temperature) may compensate for this yet this doesn’t work for so-called hedonistic haptic product information (i.e., softness, feeling of warmth). It is possible to describe the weigh and dimensions of a product very accurately, but much more difficult and subjective to describe properly the softness of a product.
Even when it comes to online sales, a description of haptic information is shown to have a clear added value.
Peck, J., & Childers, T. L. (2003). Individual differences in haptic information processing: The “need for touch” scale. The Journal of Consumer Research, 30(3), 430–442.
