When consumers have difficulty understanding ads: How technical language lowers purchase intention

Abstract Technical language refers to field‐specific professional terms that are unfamiliar to general consumers. Despite consumers' lack of familiarity with technical language, it is still used in advertisements for various products. Here, we find that technical language reduces consumers' willingness to purchase the advertised products because such language reduces their processing fluency (Study 1 and Study 2). We further show that (1) when consumers have relevant knowledge (Study 3) and (2) when the advertised product is a typical technology product (Study 4), the negative effect of technical language is attenuated. Together, these three findings constitute evidence that processing fluency is a mechanism by which consumers' purchase intention is decreased following their exposure to technical language in advertising, suggesting that using technical language in ads may not be the best option.