This study highlights the accelerating digital transformation, which is shifting the paradigm of the beauty service industry and its customers. With the increasing convenience of online computer and mobile access, platform-based marketing strategies a...
This study highlights the accelerating digital transformation, which is shifting the paradigm of the beauty service industry and its customers. With the increasing convenience of online computer and mobile access, platform-based marketing strategies are diversifying in the beauty service sector. Specifically, online reviews are being used as a marketing engagement strategy to inform customers about beauty salon services and environments, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and thus booking intentions. Therefore, this study aimed to understand customer satisfaction and booking intentions based on the intention to use beauty salon services.
The study adopted the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model as its primary theoretical basis and systematically integrated the Information Acceptance Model (IAM), dual-process theory, and affective processing theory to analyze consumers' internal information processing processes, dividing them into cognitive and affective pathways. As a representative high-involvement and high-experience industry, the beauty service industry was examined to understand individual SORs and their impact on online reviews, customer satisfaction, and booking intentions.
The research method involved modeling causal relationships, with online reviews serving as the stimulus, customer satisfaction as the organism, and reservation intention as the response.
Data were collected from 332 male and female consumers aged 20 and older who had used a hair salon within the past three months and referenced online reviews. The respondents' characteristics were analyzed. To establish the research framework, text, ratings, and photo (video) reviews in online reviews were set as cause variables, and customer satisfaction and reservation intention as outcome variables. To verify this, IBM SPSS Statistics 29.0 was used to verify causal relationships. The results are as follows.
First, text reviews in online reviews showed significant differences in age, salon type, and reservation type, and were found to have a significant positive effect on customer satisfaction and reservation intention.
Second, rating reviews in online reviews showed significant differences in salon visit intervals, salon reservation types, salon distances, and number of salon visits within the past three months, and were found to have a significant positive effect on customer satisfaction and reservation intention.
Third, photo (video) reviews showed significant differences across age and salon type, and had a significant positive effect on customer satisfaction and reservation intention.
Fourth, satisfaction showed significant differences across gender, salon visit interval, salon type, and salon visit distance, and had a significant positive effect on reservation intention.
Fifth, reservation intention showed significant differences across gender, salon visit interval, salon type, and salon visit distance.
Sixth, text reviews showed a 37.7% indirect mediating effect of customer satisfaction on reservation intention. Rating reviews showed a 38.0% indirect mediating effect of customer satisfaction on reservation intention. Photo (video) reviews showed a 36.6% indirect mediating effect of customer satisfaction on reservation intention. Rating reviews showed the strongest mediating effect on customer satisfaction.
Seventh, gender, age, salon type, salon reservation type, and salon distance moderated online reviews and reservation intentions. However, salon visit interval and frequency did not moderate reservation intentions.
In summary, this study validated the importance of online reviews as a way to increase salon reservation rates by incorporating the SOR theory. Online reviews were found to be most important, in that order, followed by rating reviews, text reviews, and photo (video) reviews. In particular, customer characteristics were found to play a significant role in managing online reviews. Beauty service managers should establish a "reviewable environment" that manages high-quality visual assets beyond mere review accumulation, and develop sophisticated data-driven marketing strategies tailored to customer characteristics. This study presents online strategies and directions for securing a sustainable competitive advantage in beauty salon operations.