The influence mechanism of appeal strategy and verbal anthropomorphism in robotic notifications on consumers’ timely parcel pickup intention in self-collection services

Self-collection services have emerged as a key solution to urban last-mile delivery challenges. However, persistent delays in parcel pickup contribute to issues such as parcel loss, self-service station overstocking, and increased redelivery costs. While logistics service providers increasingly use robotic notifications to prompt timely pickups, the message characteristics that enhance their effectiveness remain underexplored. This study investigates how two key characteristics of robotic notifications—appeal strategy (self-benefit vs. other-benefit) and verbal anthropomorphism (high vs. low)—interact to influence consumers' timely parcel pickup intention. Through one pilot study and three formal scenario experiments, the findings reveal that message congruence is critical: robotic notifications combining self-benefit appeals with low verbal anthropomorphism, or other-benefit appeals with high verbal anthropomorphism, are more effective in improving consumers’ information processing fluency, thereby enhancing timely parcel pickup intention. Additionally, notification timing moderates strategy effectiveness: self-benefit appeals with low verbal anthropomorphism are more effective in initial notifications, whereas other-benefit appeals with high verbal anthropomorphism perform better in follow-up notifications (i.e., messages sent when consumers have not collected parcels after the first alert). The findings offer practical insights for optimizing the design of robotic notifications that promote timely pickup behaviors in self-collection services.