Indifferent Customers, Seeker Customers, and Meticulous Customers
| Customer types | Definition of the customer type based on the evaluation of accessibility and trust-building | Key moderator of categorization: Approaches and intensity of information search | Other moderators | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main purpose of information search | Frequency of purchasing | |||
| Indifferent | Positively evaluates a second retargeted ad that consists of a message dominated by selfreflection and affordability (i.e., accessibility) rather than credibility and authenticity | Browse the website : “I will see an ad … so I just browse the website, though I won’t stay at it for too long” (female participant) | Curiosity: “Intrigued to click on [ad] and learn more” (male participant) | Medium: “I typically don’t buy luxury products for myself. Sometimes I do, but not too often. Typically, it’s for a friend or a family member” (female participant) |
| Seeker | Positively evaluates a second retargeted ad that consists of a message dominated by affordability and credibility (i.e., accessibility and trust-building) rather than selfreflection and authenticity | Google search (comparison of multiple companies), ask immediate family, observe if friends in social media have the product, see videos that reveal product usage and benefits: “I do like to look at reviews … I look up videos about their products. I try to do a lot of research before I spend money on things” (female participant) | Validity of product benefit: “When I think luxury, I think [of] the highest quality [products] … I want to get myself” (female participant) | Low: “I buy for special occasions, and that is very rare” (female participant) |
| Meticulous | Positively evaluates a second retargeted ad that consists of a message dominated by credibility and authenticity (i.e., trust-building) rather than self-reflection and affordability | Browse website, search social media pages of the company, check online comments about the product, check for the number of followers, place it in a story to ask if anyone has heard about the product, post a picture of the product in the personal profile to ask for others’ opinions, look at the company’s policies: “I will take a picture [of the product from the ad] and post that in my story and ask if anyone has purchased this before” (female participant) | Validity of information presented in the ad: “I will take a picture [of the product from the ad] and post and ask if anyone has heard about such and such company, or if anyone has a bad review” (female participant) | High: “A lot. I will say probably once a month. Even during Covid I was buying a lot” (female participant) |