Influence of incentive frames on offline-to-online interaction of outdoor advertising

This research explores how incentive frames influence offline-to-online interaction in outdoor advertising, via a field study. We focus on three factors of incentive framing: call to action, definiteness, and incentive forms in order to identify the most effective ways to design incentives for outdoor interactive advertisements. In this study, the offline-to-online interaction process for outdoor advertisements is divided into three steps: QR code scanning, clicking, and registration. The findings demonstrate that call to action influences all three steps of offline-to-online interaction, and positive framing of the call to action stimulates increased interactions. In regard to definiteness, indefinite forms of incentive in the offline advertisements elicit a higher rate of QR code scanning and clicking compared with definite incentive forms. The interactive effect of definiteness and incentive forms is significant: when the incentive offered in outdoor advertising is indefinite, discounts have a stronger effect than gifts; in contrast, when the incentive is definite, the opposite occurs. On the basis of these findings, three managerial insights are proposed: (1) selection of positive framing for call to action; (2) the use of indefinite incentives in offline advertisement to trigger the audience's curiosity; (3) the application of appropriate forms of incentive according to specific scenarios.