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Your mileage may vary: Managing untargeted consumers’ reactions to promotions

  • Original Empirical Research
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Abstract

CRM, CLV, and loyalty programs emphasize carefully targeting promotions to select consumers. However, with websites actively disseminating promotions to the untargeted, keeping targeted promotions from untargeted consumers is increasingly difficult. Spillover of targeted promotions to untargeted consumers can be a boon or a curse, depending on how the firm manages promotions’ features and characteristics. Extant literature provides little guidance on how firms can shape targeted promotions to strategically encourage participation or abstention by the untargeted. Drawing on equity theory and scarcity theory, we analyze 1,000 promotions discussed by members of the highest traffic “deals” website. We find: (1) untargeted consumers readily access promotions not targeted to them; (2) untargeted consumers find such offers more attractive than untargeted promotional offers; and (3) knowledge of prior promotions’ pricing, “may not be for you” language, and quantity/time limits influence evaluations. We discuss how managers can shape promotions to better manage untargeted consumers’ responses.

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Notes

  1. We would like to thank the reviewers for this suggestion. Other interactions were also considered but were not found to be significant.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank four JAMS reviewers and Professor John Hulland for their counsel and commitment to bringing this paper to publication. All three authors contributed equally to this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Scott A. Thompson & Richard A. Gooner

  2. College of Business Administration, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Pomona, CA, 91768, USA

    Anthony Kim

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  1. Scott A. Thompson
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  2. Richard A. Gooner
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  3. Anthony Kim
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Correspondence to Richard A. Gooner.

Appendices

Appendix A

Table 9 Descriptive statistics
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Appendix B

Table 10 Correlation matrix
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Thompson, S.A., Gooner, R.A. & Kim, A. Your mileage may vary: Managing untargeted consumers’ reactions to promotions. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 43, 713–729 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0404-7

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