About AMA

Min Zhao, Steve Hoeffler, and Gal Zauberman

Executive Summary
Consumers' preference inconsistency over time is a common phenomenon when there is a temporal gap between selecting a product and using the product. Low customer satisfaction derived from inconsistent preference is one of the big challenges that marketers face. Thus, it is important to find a way to help achieve preference consistency over time to pursue long-term satisfaction.

As a reason for preference inconsistency over time, research on choice over time has found that people tend to focus on the feasibility-related components of near-future events and the desirability-related components of distant-future events. In the current research, the authors integrate research on choice over time and mental simulation. They propose and show that counter to people's natural tendencies, outcome simulation for near-future events (which focuses on the benefits and performance of a product) and process simulation for distant-future events (which focuses on the constraints and convenience of using a product) lead to preference consistency over time. The results also suggest that outcome timing moderates the effectiveness of process versus outcome simulation.

These findings are important from a marketer's perspective. If there is a goal of maximizing long-term satisfaction, in general, one would want consumers to form preferences that focus on the long-term usefulness (i.e., product performance) rather than the immediate constraints (i.e., ease of using). However, there are situations in which the constraints may play an important role in consumers' long-term satisfaction. For example, imagine a consumer who purchases a personal digital assistant entirely on the basis of the attractive features (i.e., having all of their contact and scheduling information available). If they ignore or underweigh the effort associated with learning how to use the product and obtain the benefits (i.e., learning the handwriting recognition script and entering all of the information), they may be unsatisfied with their purchase. Thus, when thinking about preference consistency, it is important to understand the long-term implications of both constraints and usefulness.

Biography
Min Zhao is Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. She received her BA and MA in Linguistics from Beijing Foreign Studies University and her PhD in Marketing from University of North Carolina (2007). Her research interests include consumer behavior, mental simulation, and new product learning, and her research has been published in Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Steve Hoeffler is Associate Professor of Marketing in the Owen Graduate School of Business at Vanderbilt University He received a BA in Information Systems from San Diego State University in 1985, an MBA in Marketing from University of California, Davis, in 1994, and a PhD in Marketing from Duke University in 2000. His research has been published in Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology: Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Brand Management, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, and Sloan Management Review.

Gal Zauberman is Associate Professor of Marketing in The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, he was Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received a BA in Psychology and Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1994 and a PhD in Marketing from Duke University in 2000. His research has been published in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Management Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Psychological Science, and others.