Effect of Timing and Source of Online Product Recommendations: An Eye-Tracking Study

Online retail business has become an emerging market for almost all business owners. Online recommender systems provide better service to consumers during their decision making processes. In this study, a controlled lab experiment was conducted to assess the effect of recommendation timing (early, mid, and late) and recommendation source (expert reviews vs. consumer reviews) on online consumers' interest and attention. Eye-tracking data was extracted from the experiment and analyzed. The results suggest that consumers show more interest in recommendation based on consumer reviews than expert reviews. Earlier recommendations do not receive greater attention than later recommendations.