Impression formation in mobile communication with Multimedia Caller Identification

This study examines the influence on impression formation of Multimedia Caller Identification (MCID), which is a new video-content display application for mobile phones. In a 2 × 2 factorial experiment, the kindness and expertise of a car dealer in an automobile telemarketing simulation are sequentially combined and presented as both visual MCID and verbal script content. Experimental results suggest that presenting visually kind and verbally intelligent content would be the best strategy for achieving more positive evaluations from clients in mobile-marketing situations. Our study provides practical considerations for impression formation using MCID in mobile phone communication.