Can attempts to delight customers with surprise gains boomerang? A test using low-price guarantees

Sujay Dutta (), Abhijit Guha (), Abhijit Biswas () and Dhruv Grewal ()
Additional contact information
Sujay Dutta: Wayne State University
Abhijit Guha: University of South Carolina
Abhijit Biswas: Wayne State University
Dhruv Grewal: Babson College

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2019, vol. 47, issue 3, No 3, 417-437

Abstract: Abstract Despite cautionary advice against it, delighting consumers by offering them pleasant surprises is widely advocated. In this paper, using a low-price guarantee context, we show that retailers’ attempts to use surprise gains to delight consumers might lead to subpar outcomes, if a countervailing cognition such as suspicion of retailer opportunism dominates consumers’ thinking. In a low-price guarantee, retailers promise consumers refunds if consumers discover a lower price for a purchased product. We propose that providing a surprise component in the refund over and above the promised refund might boomerang, by increasing the likelihood of countervailing cognitions related to opportunistic signaling, in turn decreasing future purchase intentions. Over multiple studies, we provide evidence for this proposition, illustrate the underlying process, and identify boundary conditions.

Keywords: Low-price guarantees; Signal default; Surprise; Delight; Opportunistic signaling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11747-017-0522-0

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