Framework for the Evaluation of Experiences Before Consumption: Self, Vividness, and Narrative

We present a framework that explains how consumers evaluate experiences before consumption, and how this evaluation differs from that of products. We suggest that experiences are evaluated closer to the self, more vividly, and more in the form of narratives, compared to products. We understand experiences as a type of good different from products or material possessions. An experience is an event or series of events that a consumer lives through, while a product is a tangible object, kept in one’s possession (Van Boven and Gilovich 2003). Trips, movies, and restaurants are experiences; laptops, shoes, and jewelry are products. We propose that experiences are processed differently from products in that they are processed as closer to the self, as something more vivid, and more in the form of a narrative.