Non-contact consumption will gradually become the main form of consumption in the post-Covid-19 era, and how to mitigate the negative consequences caused by tactile barriers in online retailing is a consensus challenge in e-commerce. However, the findings of existing literature lack operability and manageability, and how online retailers compensate consumers with information about product sensory attributes in the form of text description is still not well addressed. In the field of cognitive linguistics, metaphorical description is a linguistic description method that can effectively convey emotions or sensory experiences, but little research has focused on the great potential of this linguistic strategy in solving the online product untouchability dilemma. Based on the embodied simulation theory in psychology and the “lexical meaning as ontologies and construal” model in linguistics, this paper investigates the mechanism of metaphorical text description strategy for online products on consumer purchase intentions, further exploring the potential psychological mechanism of tactile imagery and the moderating role of product type.

The study was conducted in the form of an experimental method, including 2 contextual simulation experiments and 1 real field experiment. Experiment 1 was a single-factor between-group design, and the result showed that the main effect of product text description style on consumer purchase intention was significant, and tactile imagery played a mediating role in the process. Experiment 2 was a two-factor between-group design: 2 (product text description style: static metaphorical description vs. dynamic metaphorical description) × 2 (product type: tactile functional product vs. tactile experiential product), and the result showed that product type further moderated the mediating effect of tactile imagery. Experiment 3 was a real online purchase field experiment, in which the product description text of online stores was experimentally manipulated, and the result of the experiment, which lasted for 15 days, further verified that product metaphorical text description could indeed enhance the sales effect of online stores.

The findings show that: Product metaphorical text description leads to positive purchase intentions when purchasing products with high tactile attributes online; tactile imagery is a underlying psychological mechanism for online product metaphorical text description leading to positive purchase intentions, and product type further moderates the mediating effect of tactile imagery, i.e., dynamic metaphorical text description of tactile experiential products induces a higher level of tactile imagery and leads to positive purchase intentions; conversely, tactile functional products are more appropriate to use static metaphorical text description to induce vivid tactile imagery and lead to positive purchase intentions.

The main contributions of this paper are that: First, based on the perspective of sensory compensation, it explores the application of the LOC theory of cognitive linguistics in the field of consumer behavior, and further extends the application of sensory experience’s comparative construal theory model in online product untouchability compensation strategy in marketing. Second, to a certain extent, it fills the regret that there are few experimental and statistical empirical studies on existing metaphor theory. Third, it further advances the research findings related to tactile imagery in the online retailing field.