The effects of size referents in user-generated photos on online review helpfulness

Product size misperceptions are a common problem for consumers when shopping online. To help their peers estimate a product's size, customers often include a size referent next to the focal product when adding photos to their online reviews. The purpose of this article is to investigate the effects of user-provided review photos (with and without a size referent) on online review helpfulness. From two online experiments and one eye-tracking lab experiment, this article finds that photo-enhanced reviews that include a size referent object can improve review helpfulness. In study 1, eye-tracking data shows that consumers pay greater attention to the photo and less to the text when the size referent is included. Study 2 shows that size referents are more helpful when consumers have limited experience with the product and the size referent is familiar. The role of perceived reviewer effort is investigated as a mediator to explain this result. Study 3 shows that the effects of a familiar size referent are robust when the seller provides detailed size information but vary depending on review valence.