When reviews speak through pictures: visual content and its influence on helpfulness

This research investigates the impact of service quality dimensions displayed in user-generated photos on their perceived helpfulness. Building on the SERVQUAL model and the Haywood-Farmer framework, we propose a novel methodology that integrates advanced image-to-caption techniques with topic modeling algorithms and negative binomial regression to extract, interpret, and quantify the effect of visuals on review helpfulness. Two studies were conducted relying on two sample of online reviews from two tourism-related service types (5,293 hotel reviews from Cancun, Mexico, and 11,252 spa and wellness reviews from Iceland). The results underline the role of visuals in affecting review helpfulness, with aspects such as “Room” “Leisure” and “Hotel Outdoor” positively impacting review helpfulness in hotels and “Natural Water Features” emerging as significant in spa and wellness reviews. Overall, this study underscores the relevance of tangibles and empathy in service evaluation, providing actionable strategies for businesses to optimize visual content.