More from the Author

• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | March 2020

  Super Bowl Storytelling

  Shelle Santana and Jill Avery

  Citation:

  Santana, Shelle, and Jill Avery. "Super Bowl Storytelling." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 520-096, March 2020.  View Details

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• Article | Journal of Retailing | March 2020

  The Role of Numbers in the Customer Journey

  Shelle Santana, Manoj Thomas and Vicki Morwitz

  At each stage in customers’ journeys, they encounter different types of numeric information that they process using different judgment strategies. Relevant numbers might include budgets, price, product attributes, product counts, product ratings, numbers in brand names, health and nutrition information, financial information, time-related information, and others. This manuscript provides a review of the vast array of numerical information presented to consumers at different stages of the customer journey. It also identifies several different types of judgment strategies that consumers use to evaluate numeric information. It includes a discussion of how consumers use these judgment strategies during the pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase stages of the customer journey, highlighting unanswered questions that identify new research opportunities. Implications for practice and research are identified.

  Keywords: numbers; heuristics; numerical cognition; pricing; customer journey; Information; Consumer Behavior;

  Citation:

  Santana, Shelle, Manoj Thomas, and Vicki Morwitz. "The Role of Numbers in the Customer Journey." Journal of Retailing 96, no. 1 (March 2020): 138–154.  View Details

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• Article | Marketing Science | January–February 2020

  Consumer Reactions to Drip Pricing

  Shelle Santana, Steven Dallas and Vicki Morwitz

  This research examines how drip pricing—a strategy whereby a firm advertises only part of a product’s price upfront and then reveals additional mandatory or optional fees/surcharges as the consumer proceeds through the buying process—affects consumer choice and satisfaction. Across six studies, we find that when optional surcharges are dripped (vs. revealed upfront) consumers are more likely to initially select a lower base priced option that, after surcharges are included, is often more expensive than the alternative. Moreover, consumers exposed to drip pricing tend to ultimately select this lower base price but higher total price option, even after being exposed to the total price and given the opportunity to change their selection, and even though they are relatively dissatisfied with it. We explore why drip pricing has these effects and find that they are driven by consumers’ perceptions regarding the costs and benefits of starting over and switching. Specifically, we find that high perceived search costs (study 2), self-justification (study 3), and mistaken perceptions regarding the potential gains of switching because of inaccurate beliefs that all firms charge similar additional fees/surcharges (study 4) all play roles. We discuss the implications of these findings for marketers, consumers, and policy makers.

  Keywords: drip pricing; pricing; consumer protection; hidden fees; Price; Consumer Behavior; Perception;

  Citation:

  Santana, Shelle, Steven Dallas, and Vicki Morwitz. "Consumer Reactions to Drip Pricing." Marketing Science 39, no. 1 (January–February 2020): 188–210.  View Details

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