Understanding the impact of product’s form on perceived pragmatic quality, hedonic quality, and purchase preferences of pocket water bottles

Abstract

Background: The user-experience of user-driven products can be perceived through Pragmatic and Hedonic quality. Pragmatic quality (PQ) is a product's practicality, ergonomic quality, and functionality. Hedonic quality (HQ) reflects a product's attractiveness, aesthetics, and novelty. Aim: The purpose is to find the differences between product purchase preference, and pragmatic and hedonic quality. Materials and Methods: 103 users were selected using stratified random sampling. A short-version User Experience Questionnaire(UEQ-S) was applied to quantify the Pragmatic and Hedonic quality of two 250-ml cylindrical and pear-shaped pocket water bottles. The purchase preference (PP) was assessed using an 11-point rating scale. Results: PQ, and PP were significantly(p<0.05) higher in cylindrical bottle and HQ was significantly(p<0.05) high in pear-shaped bottle. Male users perceived significantly(p<0.05) higher PQ in Cylindrical-bottle than the pear-shaped one. Female users perceived similar(p>0.05) PQ in both types of bottles. Both genders perceived higher(p<0.05) HQ in pear-shaped bottle than the cylindrical one. PP was significantly higher(p<0.05) for Cylindrical bottle than the pear-shaped bottle. Conclusion: Cylindrical-bottle has lesser HQ but higher PQ and purchase preference because of better efficiency, holding-ability, and usability. Hence, PQ is more important for user-driven products.  Higher HQ does not confirm increased chances of purchase preference. HQ only adds extra ability to interact between consumers and products.