What to Say When: Influencing Consumer Choice by Delaying the Presentation of Favorable Information

Delaying the presentation of some favorable information about an alternative (e.g., a product, service, brand, store, or cause) until after consumers have completed their pre-choice screening can increase that alternative’s choice share. While such a delay reduces the alternative’s chance of survivi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of consumer research 2012-04, Vol.38 (6), p.1004-1021
Main Authors: Ge, Xin, Häubl, Gerald, Elrod, Terry
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternatives
Analytical estimating
Conditional probabilities
Consumer behavior
Consumer preferences
Experiment design
Hotels
Information
Modeling
Observed choices
Preferences
Recency effect
Saliency
Studies
Universities
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Summary:Delaying the presentation of some favorable information about an alternative (e.g., a product, service, brand, store, or cause) until after consumers have completed their pre-choice screening can increase that alternative’s choice share. While such a delay reduces the alternative’s chance of surviving the screening, it can actually increase its probability of ultimately being chosen. Evidence from five experiments demonstrates this preference-enhancing effect of the delayed presentation of favorable information, and it illustrates the underlying preference dynamics across decision stages associated with such a delay. The findings also indicate that this preference-enhancing effect is driven by a combination of two mental mechanisms—a shift in the decision weights of attribute dimensions (rendering dimensions on which a delay occurs more influential across all alternatives) and an overall preference boost for the alternative about which information is delayed.
ISSN:0093-5301
1537-5277
DOI:10.1086/661937