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By Root 2031 0

step for the customer. The experiments involved customer loyalty programs for a car wash, restaurant, and liquor store. For the car wash, half of the subjects, randomly selected, were given a loyalty card that would be stamped after each car wash, and after eight stamps, the customer would receive a free car wash. The other half received a card requiring ten stamps; however, the first two visits were already stamped as part of a “special promotion.” Thus, in each treatment, the customer needed eight stamps to get the free car wash. A record of the redemption rate was kept for the next nine months. The addition of the free stamps was expected to show progress toward the goal and to represent an investment. It worked. Those provided with the two “free” stamps redeemed 34 percent of the cards, while those without free stamps redeemed only 19 percent (Nunes and Drèze 2006).

Our analysis of quasi-experimental data provided additional support:

Print ads with easy action steps produced better recall. Our WAPB analysis found 43 pairs of print ads in which one ad provided an action step, while the other did not. Recall for the action-step ads was 1.19 times better than for the other ads. Of course, this principle is expected to have its biggest effect on persuasion, not recall.

An analysis of non-experimental data on 211 entries for the Direct Marketing Association’s Echo Awards found that the inclusion of a postage-paid form with an envelope produced a much higher customer response rate. The availability of credit card payment also led to a higher response rate (Woodside, Beretich, and Lauricella 1993).

For the non-experimental data in WAPB, in comparison with the industry norms for each ad, the average persuasion score for the 44 ads with easy action steps was 19 percent higher than the comparable score for the 173 ads that did not provide any action steps.

6.17.4. Consider a bonus to a good offer when customers can respond quickly

Get the customer to think about a good offer without asking for a response. Then make the offer even more attractive. You could use a phrase like, “And that’s not all!” although a softer approach may be better. Many advertisers use this principle when they add an offer of an additional feature—”We’ll also send you a free cutting board and sharpener to go along with your new knife set.”

While the research shows this principle to be powerful, it seems to apply primarily to situations where the customer is expected to reply quickly, such as in point-of-purchase, TV shopping channel, or Internet ads. Of course, a lot of people would buy anyway, so the issue is whether the additional sales exceed the cost of the bonus.

Bonuses seem to be more useful for low-involvement products.

Evidence on the effects of a bonus

Seven related field experiments involved selling cupcakes on a college campus, at an art fair, and in front of a grocery store. Here is one of the studies: Those in the control condition were given an offer of a cupcake and two cookies for $0.75. In the “That’s not all” (TNA) treatment, customers were each told that the cupcakes were $0.75. At this moment, a second experimenter tapped the first one on the shoulder, and the latter held up his hand and said “wait a second,” at which point the two experimenters had a brief exchange. The first experimenter then said that the price also included two cookies, and he produced a bag with the cookies. Those in the TNA condition were much more likely to make a purchase than those in the control condition, 73 percent versus 40 percent (Burger 1986).

In another field experiment, TNA increased sales for a small, inexpensive box of chocolates, but not for a larger, much more expensive box. Customers thought about the offer for the expensive chocolates and were not persuaded by the bonus (Pollock et al. 1988).

Four experiments identified the important limitation that the original offer must be attractive. If not, TNA does not help (Burger et al. 1999).

Checklist 6 summarizes principles for gaining acceptance.

Checklist 6 Acceptance

6.1. Problem/solution