Marco Bertini from ESADE in Barcelona held a talk on consumer reactance to conditional discounts as part of our Department’s Research Seminar Series. The presented research suggests that discounts tied to non-monetary conditions in particular (such as completing a questionnaire or making a referral), while becoming increasingly popular with companies, can actually frustrate consumers. Even though conditional discounts are typically justified as a sharper means of price discrimination, they might thus backfire by creating reactance and consequently provoking consumer behaviors that harm a business. Bertini and colleagues show this effect in a series of lab and field experiments: Reactance, while not affecting the use of the discount per se, can manifest precisely as a cut in spending as consumers retaliate by choosing fewer or cheaper options than they would in response to a standard (unconditional) discount.

We thank Marco for his visit, and the inspiring talk and discussions. For information on the upcoming guest speakers at the Research Seminar Series, please check the <link marketing international research-seminar-series>agenda.