Consumers' difficulty with learning by analogy of really new products: selection criteria of effective analogies

Research in marketing and consumer behavior has suggested that analogies may be useful to enhance consumer learning of really new products. However, mixed results on the effectiveness of analogies have also been found indicating the risk of communication failure. In this paper several aspects of analogical thought that may negatively influence the use of analogies as learning devices for really new products are identified. For effective use of consumer learning by analogy of really new products several criteria are proposed for the selection of an appropriate analogy. In an exploratory study these criteria are used to find explanation for the ineffective analogy used in previous studies.