WHAT SHOULD PRODUCTS SAY WHEN THE RULES CHANGE?

Should a new technology be sold through what it can do, or through evidence that it fits the rules?

In emerging markets, the answer can change as regulation matures. A message that reduces uncertainty at one stage may become less useful—or even distracting—at another.

I studied 466 consumer drones listed on Amazon between 2013 and 2018, producing 2,796 repeated product-year observations. I compared how product descriptions emphasized market applications and regulatory compatibility before and after a major change in U.S. drone regulation.

Because Amazon does not report unit sales, I used review counts as a proxy for marketplace traction. The study therefore examines patterns of association, not causal sales effects.

What I did

I assembled and cleaned product records using unique Amazon ASINs, connecting product descriptions, technical features, brand information, ratings, rankings, and annual review activity.

I then developed text-based measures capturing two ways sellers positioned their products:

• Market-use framing: what the drone could help customers do

• Compliance framing: how the product related to regulatory requirements

I used longitudinal count models to examine how the relationship between each positioning strategy and product popularity changed around the regulatory shift, while accounting for brand, product features, launch timing, previous reviews, and broader media attention.

What I found

Market-use and compliance messaging were each associated with stronger marketplace traction—but at different moments.

• Before regulatory clarification, emphasizing customer applications was more strongly associated with product popularity. 

• After the rules became clearer, compliance-oriented messaging became relatively more valuable. 

• Attempting to emphasize both at once diluted some of the benefit.

• The broader pattern was not that one message was universally better. The value of the message depended on where the market was in its regulatory evolution.

So what

Regulatory change is not only a legal or compliance event. It can change which product benefits customers notice, which forms of reassurance they need, and which positioning strategies differentiate a product.

For product and go-to-market teams, this means messaging should be revisited when the rules change. The language that helps a product gain traction in an uncertain market may not be the language that works after the category becomes more standardized.

Positioning is not only about product-market fit. It is also about message-market timing.

Supported by a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, Award 2035625.