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Speaking the same language: the power of words in crowdfunding success and failure

Author

Listed:
  • Ling Peng

    (Lingnan University)

  • Geng Cui

    (Lingnan University)

  • Ziru Bao

    (Lingnan University)

  • Shuman Liu

    (Lingnan University)

Abstract

As crowdfunding has emerged as a popular source of funding for new ventures, budding entrepreneurs often struggle to deliver a convincing pitch to attract backers. We adopt an n-gram language model to analyze narratives of over 21,000 film projects from Kickstarter and find that the choice of words is critical to crowdfunding success. Using penalized logistic regression, we identify the relative power of phrases to predict funding outcome, resulting in a dramatic reduction in error rate. Consistent with the language expectancy theory, the linguistic analyses show that successful projects usually include words that reflect the credibility of project creators and meaningful social interactions, whereas failed projects exude negativism or uncertainty. While good word choices vary among movie genres, words of lower cognitive complexity dampen the chances of funding. These findings have broad implications for text analysis and natural language generation for persuasive marketing communications.

Suggested Citation

  • Ling Peng & Geng Cui & Ziru Bao & Shuman Liu, 2022. "Speaking the same language: the power of words in crowdfunding success and failure," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 311-323, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:33:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s11002-021-09595-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11002-021-09595-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. agarwal, shekhar & Gordon, Anna, 2022. "Complexities for the Indian Economy of China's Growing Technological Competence," OSF Preprints fk3r7, Center for Open Science.
    3. agarwal, shekhar, 2022. "India’s Rising Technology Economy: Sources and Consequences," OSF Preprints x6yzm, Center for Open Science.
    4. Wang, Shaoda & Ye, Dezhu & Liao, Junyun, 2024. "Politeness matters: The role of polite languages in online peer-to-peer lending," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    5. Wen, Xiaohan (Hannah) & Kim, Shinhye & Bowen, Melanie, 2023. "Doing good by sharing messages: An investigation of “You Share, We Donate” campaigns and how they can attain viral success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).

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