Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy 13th Edition by Delbert Hawkins, David Mothersbaugh

Exercise 35

When Consumers Wait Until the Last Minute to Buy
Sometimes consumers put off purchase decisions until the last minute. Have you ever still been shopping on Christmas Eve Have you ever waited until right before a vacation to book a flight and hotel Well, you are not alone and the consequences are significant. A recent study examined how people react to different advertising themes when they were either booking a last-minute summer vacation or planning for a winter-break vacation many months away. Two ad themes for an online travel service were created, with differing taglines, as follows: 21
• Prevention-focused ad: Don't get stuck at home! Don't get ripped off!
• Promotion-focused ad: Give yourself a memorable vacation! Get the best deals!
After viewing the ads, consumers were asked how much they would pay for a ticket from the service. The results may surprise you because scaring people sometimes led to a willingness to pay more, but not always. Can you predict when the prevention-focused ad worked better and when the promotion-focused ad worked better Here are the results:
• Last-minute summer vacation (how much would you pay for a ticket ):
• Prevention-focused ad: $672
• Promotion-focused ad: $494
• Future winter-break vacation (how much would you pay for a ticket ):
• Prevention-focused ad: $415
• Promotion-focused ad: $581
This may seem odd until you consider the fact that when consumers are shopping at the last minute (last-minute summer vacation in the example above), their goals are prevention-focused such as minimizing losses and mistakes. The prevention-focused ad worked best in this situation because it played into consumer fears about those losses. Alternatively, when consumers are shopping well in advance (future winter-break vacation in the example above), their goals are promotion-focused such as personal growth and aspirations. The promotion-focused ad worked best in this situation because it played into those consumer desires and aspirations.
According to Jennifer Aaker, an expert in this area: [It's] about how people are motivated by hope and optimism on one hand and by fear on the other.
For holiday marketers, the results seem clear-utilize positive (promotion-focused) messages early on and negative (prevention-focused) messages close to the holiday. Last-minute shoppers beware!
Why is it that fear-based appeals are not always the most effective