Anytime Versus Only: Mind-Sets Moderate the Effect of Expansive Versus Restrictive Frames on Promotion Evaluation
Published 8/1/2008
Author: Amar Cheema and Vanessa M. Patrick
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Executive Summary
Sales promotions are frequently used to increase store visits and purchases. A typical promotion features a discount (e.g., 30% off) valid for a fixed interval (the redemption window; e.g., between noon and 4 p.m.). In three studies, the authors demonstrate how framing a promotion as expansive or restrictive, with other aspects held constant, affects consumers. Specifically, they study how framing the redemption window as expansive (e.g., take advantage of the sale anytime between noon and 4 p.m.) or restrictive (e.g., take advantage of the sale only between noon and 4 p.m.) interacts with consumers’ mind-sets to influence evaluation and usage.
The authors propose that how a consumer views the promotion offer (their mind-set) influences his or her perceptions of expansive and restrictive promotions. The authors find that consumers in an implemental mind-set, who focus relatively more on the feasibility of taking advantage of the promotion, prefer the expansive (anytime) frame because they perceive it as longer and more accommodating than a restrictive (only) frame. In contrast, consumers in a deliberative mind-set perceive a restrictive frame as more precise and thus prefer it more than an expansive frame.
In Study 1, the authors prime participants with an implemental or a deliberative mind-set. The former focuses participants more on offer feasibility. Implemental participants perceive the promotion with an expansive frame as more feasible to take advantage of than that with the restrictive frame. Feasibility considerations do not vary by frame for deliberative participants. In contrast, whereas deliberative participants perceive the restrictive frame as more precise than the expansive frame, frame does not affect precision for implemental participants. In Study 2, the authors classify consumers as chronic low-level (implemental) or high-level (deliberative) construers and explore how feasibility and precision mediate the effect of frames on usage. Low-level construers (implemental), who pay greater attention to offer feasibility, perceive the expansive frame as more feasible than the restrictive frame and are more likely to use expansive than restrictive frames. In contrast, high-level construers (deliberative) perceive the restrictive frame as more precise than the expansive frame, and they are more likely to use the restrictive than the expansive frame. In Study 3, the authors replicate this effect of framing for actual coupon redemption. They find that low-level construers (implemental) are less likely to redeem restrictive than expansive frame coupons. In contrast, high-level construers (deliberative) are directionally more likely to redeem restrictive than expansive frame coupons.
These results suggest when expansive versus restrictive framing improve promotion effectiveness. Consumers in an implemental mind-set focus on the feasibility of taking advantage of the promotion and prefer expansive (versus restrictive) frames. Implemental mind-sets are more likely when consumption is in the near future or when the purchase decision has already been made. In contrast, consumers in a deliberative mind-set focus more on offer precision and prefer restrictive (versus expansive) frames. Deliberative mind-sets are more likely when consumption is further in the future or before a purchase decision has been made. Further investigation of the effects of mind-sets and different communication frames is likely to yield valuable insights for marketers.
Biography
Amar Cheema is Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. His research interests include consumers’ evaluations of prices and promotions, auction behavior, spending, and self-control decisions. His research on these topics has been published (or is forthcoming) in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Marketing Letters.
Vanessa M. Patrick is Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. She received her PhD from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Her research interests include the study of affect (mood and emotions), aesthetics, and intertemporal issues in choice and consumption. Her research has appeared in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Journal of Retailing. Before obtaining her PhD, Vanessa worked for several years in advertising and brand consultancy. She worked in account management and planning at Ogilvy and Mather Advertising and J. Walter Thompson and as a brand consultant and project manager at DMA, a London-based brand management consultancy.
Journal of Marketing Research, Volume 45, Number 4, August 2008
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