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.