Connotative Congruency Effect Between Instrumental Timbre and Visual Design Features on Consumer Decision‐Making

ABSTRACTConducting online, controlled laboratory, and more realistic laboratory experiments, this study investigates how the connotative congruency between instrumental timbre and visual design affects consumer evaluation and choice behavior. The results demonstrate that consumers are more likely to respond positively to the target when the instrumental timbre of background music shares connotative meanings like bright, smooth, or heavy with a visual feature of the target. In addition, we identified that the connotative congruency effect is mediated by the sense of feeling right and excitement (i.e., high arousal positive emotion). A carefully‐controlled Study 3 and Study 5, which measured behavioral outcomes in a more realistic mock‐up corner drugstore, enhanced the ecological and external validity of the timbre‐vision connotative congruency effects. This is the first empirical marketing study on timbre‐vision congruency that covers comprehensive sets of connotative descriptions and reveals the mediating role of both feeling right and excitement.