The consumer psychology of mail-in rebates
Subtitle: a model of anchoring and adjustment
By: John T. Gourville, Dilip Soman
Contributors: Soman, Dilip; Harvard Business School. Division of Research
Series: Working paper / Division of Research, Harvard Business School -- 04-043; Working paper (Harvard Business School. Division of Research) -- 04-043
Publisher: Division of Research, Harvard Business School
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 34
Subjects: Rebates
Description: Consumers who buy a product intending to use an accompanying mail-in rebate often do not redeem the rebate. To explain this behavior, we argue that consumers use an anchoring and adjustment approach to predicting the likelihood of redeeming a rebate. In keeping with previous research on anchoring and adjustment, for instance, we show that when presented with a desirable product, consumers anchor on scenarios of successful redemption and adjust insufficiently for things that could go wrong in the redemption process.
Notes: "January 2004 draft."

Includes bibliographical references.