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  • 2021
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Improving Customer Compatibility with Tradeoff Transparency

By: Ryan W. Buell and MoonSoo Choi
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:43 
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Abstract

Through a large-scale field experiment with 393,036 customers considering opening a credit card account with a nationwide retail bank, we investigate how providing transparency into an offering’s tradeoffs affects subsequent rates of customer acquisition and long-run engagement. Although we find tradeoff transparency to have an insignificant effect on acquisition rates, customers who were shown each offering’s tradeoffs selected different products than those who were not. Moreover, prospective customers who experienced transparency and subsequently chose to open an account went on to exhibit higher quality service relationships over time. Monthly spending was 9.9% higher and cancellation rates were 20.5% lower among those who experienced transparency into each offering’s tradeoffs. Increased product usage and retention accrued disproportionately to customers with prior category experience – more-experienced customers who were provided transparency spent 19.2% more on a monthly basis and were 33.7% less likely to defect after nine months. Importantly, we find that these gains in engagement and retention do not come at the expense of customers’ financial wellbeing – the probability of making late payments was reduced among customers who experienced transparency. We further find that the positive effects of tradeoff transparency on engagement and retention were attenuated in the presence of a promotion that provided financial incentives to choose particular offerings. Taken together, these results suggest that providing transparency into an offering’s tradeoffs may be an effective strategy for informing customer choices, leading to better outcomes for customers and firms alike.

Keywords

Behavioral Operations; Operational Transparency; Customer Compatibility; Customer Behavior; Consumer Behavior; Decision Making; Operations; Strategy

Citation

Buell, Ryan W., and MoonSoo Choi. "Improving Customer Compatibility with Tradeoff Transparency." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-013, July 2019. (Revised January 2021.)
  • SSRN
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About The Author

Ryan W. Buell

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Improving Access at VA (Update) By: Ryan W. Buell
  • Lifting the Veil: The Benefits of Cost Transparency By: Bhavya Mohan, Ryan W. Buell and Leslie K. John
  • Union Square Hospitality Group: Hospitality Included By: Peter Boumgarden, Ryan W. Buell, Lamar Pierce and Richard Ryffel
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