Influence of the need for affect and need for cognition on the relationship between the persuasion techniques scarcity and consensus and the purchase interest and intention

E-commerce companies have become a driving force in the economy. Every year, online stores generate tens of billions in sales, and the trend shows that this will not change soon. Companies are trying to target their customers as precisely as possible, but there is still much potential in personalizing e-commerce sites. Persuasion techniques such as Cialdini's six principles of persuasion are widely used in marketing. However, until now, it has been unclear how individual differences are related to persuasion techniques. This paper examines the influence of the need for affect and the need for cognition on the relationship between the persuasion techniques scarcity and consensus and the purchase interest and purchase intention of potential customers. To address this question, a survey is conducted (N = 215). In the style of an online hotel booking website, participants are shown high and low scarcity and consensus stimuli. Subsequently, their purchase interest and intention are measured, and their individual need for affect and need for cognition is determined. The linear regression results show that the need for affect approach moderates the effect of the persuasion techniques scarcity and consensus on the purchase interest and intention. At the same time, the results also indicate that the need for cognition and the need for affect avoidance are not significant moderators. This leads to the following two conclusions: 1. When scarcity is high, the purchase decision is also high, but the effectiveness of this relationship is increased when the need for affect approach is high. 2. When consensus is high, the purchase decision is also high, but the effectiveness of this relationship is increased when the need for affect approach is low. These two observations result in tangible recommendations for action for e-commerce companies. First, a short survey should determine the potential customers' need for affect. After that, people with a high need for affect approach are best shown a scarcity stimulus, for example, by indicating that there are not many products left or a time limit. To increase purchase interest and intention, people with a low need for affect approach should be shown a consensus stimulus making it clear that previous customers agree on the good quality of a product. This paper holds value both for companies that want to maximize the effectiveness of their personalized targeting and for academia, where not much research has been done on the influence of the need for affect and the need for cognition on the relationship between persuasion techniques and purchase interest and intention.