Including Subjective Language or Not? How Product Recommendation Language Shapes Influencers' Impact

Abstract

Product recommendation posts by influencers are a new and popular form of product promotion in which message content can be objective or subjective, aiming to engage consumers and drive sales. However, current research in influencer marketing provides little knowledge about how including subjective language along with objective language in product recommendation posts shapes an influencer's impact. A multimethod investigation, combining a controlled experiment (Study 2) with natural language processing of 58,659 influencer product recommendation posts (Study 1), demonstrates that adding subjective language increases customer engagement and purchase likelihood, and these effects are driven by perceived relevance. However, the positive effect of including both subjective and objective language can be mitigated if the influencer has a large number of followers or the recommended product is an experience good. These findings extend the literature on how influencer product recommendation language impacts the effectiveness of product recommendations, deepen the understanding of the drivers of influencer content relevance, and provide crucial guidance for influencer marketing practitioners.