How Do Initial and Interactive Social Cues Increase Customers’ Continuance Usage Intention of Chatbots?

Enterprises widely utilize chatbots as “intelligent customer service” because of their efficiency and low cost. However, customer complaints and doubts occur occasionally, and improving users’ willingness to continue to use is a crucial issue that needs to be solved urgently. This study investigates whether and how initial social cues (avatar, name, and initial greeting) and interactive social cues (emoji) can improve users’ intention to continue using. Our findings from three scenario experiments reveal that both initial and interactive social cues can increase consumers’ warmth perception, while only interactive social cues elevate competence perception. The greater the warmth and competence perceived by users, the higher their trust in chatbots, leading to increased intention to continue using them. Furthermore, we identified a reinforcing effect when both types of social cues are combined, further augmenting users’ intention to persist with chatbots. This study contributes to the chatbot-human interaction literature by validating the effectiveness of these two social cues and offers practical insights for enhancing customer retention and optimizing chatbot design.