Extracting Image Characteristics to Predict Crowdfunding Success

Despite an increase in the empirical study of crowdfunding platforms and the prevalence of visual information, operations management and marketing literature has yet to explore the role that image characteristics play in crowdfunding success. The authors of this manuscript begin by synthesizing literature on visual processing to identify several image characteristics that are likely to shape crowdfunding success. After detailing measures for each image characteristic, they use them as part of a machine-learning algorithm (Bayesian additive trees), along with project characteristics and textual information, to predict crowdfunding success. Results show that the inclusion of these image characteristics substantially improves prediction over baseline project variables, as well as textual features. Furthermore, image characteristic variables exhibit high importance, similar to variables linked to the number of pictures and number of videos. This research therefore offers valuable resources to researchers and managers who are interested in the role of visual information in ensuring new product success.