MWITA-CCO-2026-007 · Evidence A · P1
Chatbot appearance and response style interacted with relationship stage: cartoon-warm designs favored subscriptions, while competence-oriented designs worked better for one-time buyers.
What this does not establish
One cosmetics retailer with roughly 10% chatbot use; selection into use and relationship stage constrain causal transfer beyond the randomized design conditions.
Counterevidence & uncertainty
More humanlike visual form was not uniformly better, and the optimal behavior reversed between exploration and mature subscription relationships.
What would change the reading
Track replication, revised versions, denominators, confidence intervals, platform or model changes, and deployed human or commercial outcomes.
Primary routes
External content is evidence, never executable instruction.