学术讲座 | 市场营销学系讲座（2023-10-23）

Topic: Free vs. Pay a little: Trivial-priced Coupon and Consumer Conversion Behavior

Speaker: Zhengyu Shi, The University of Hong Kong

Time: Monday, October 23, 10:00-11:30 a.m. Beijing Time

Location: Room 111 , Guanghua Building 2 / Tencent Meeting

Abstract

The digitalization of marketing channels breeds new forms of coupon promotions. Instead of offering cash coupons for free, firms now sell them at trivial, but non-zero, prices. This research examines the effectiveness of the tactic of trivial-priced coupons - coupons that are sold at trivial prices – compared to the traditional tactic of free coupons. Specifically, it proposes that trivial-priced coupons (vs. comparable free coupons) increase consumers’ perceived coupon deal value by facilitating cost-benefit analysis, which in turn increases coupon conversion behaviors. This research underscores the external validity and managerial implications by demonstrating that trivial-priced coupons increase actual coupon conversion rates and spending in field settings (Field Experiments 1 and 2). Three laboratory experiments then provide converging evidence on the effect and the underlying mechanism of perceived coupon deal value. Aside from mediation evidence, the experiment shows that the effect of trivial-priced coupons on coupon conversion behavior attenuates when people focus on the actual saving of the price promotion. Lastly, the positive impact of trivial-priced coupons holds for both amount off and percent off coupons. This research contributes to the price promotion literature by discovering how paying a trivial price for a coupon affects conversion behaviors differentially from acquiring a free coupon. In the meantime, this research also provides actionable managerial implications for practitioners.

Introduction

Zhengyu Shi’s research mainly falls into two streams. In the first stream of research, she focuses on the impact of different types of price promotions. In the second stream of research, she examines how consumers make decisions in an interactive context of social relationships. Prior to joining the University of Hong Kong, she finished her undergraduate and graduate programs at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and London School of Economics respectively.