2024年6月5日

We are surrounded by 市场营销 every day.

脸谱网 ads and promotional texts are the most obvious. 但是还有其他的, 不公开的, 市场营销 tactics companies use to motivate consumers, from odd pricing — such as items marked $14.97 at big box stores — to tensile price claims — sales that present a range of price discounts applied to a discounted category.

华鹭郑, assistant professor of 管理 & 市场营销 in Susquehanna University’s Sigmund Weis School of Business, studied tensile price claims to see how customers reacted when they discovered they weren’t getting the full discount advertised.

“We wanted to find out how aware customers are of 市场营销 tactics,郑说, “with the goal of improving 市场营销 literacy among consumers and identifying policy implications that could aid in safeguarding consumer rights.”

Zheng conducted her study through a paid search campaign that presented consumers with identical ads that varied the percentage off — up to 10% off or up to 90% off. All search ads were linked to the same landing page on a global apparel website where most items were between 10% and 15% off, and only one item was 90% off.

Zheng tracked customers over 55 days to determine if the high percentage off led to increased clicks and if the detection of deception — discovering that most items were barely discounted — resulted in a purchase or continued web browsing.

She found that the higher the tensile price claim, 或者广告折扣, the less likely consumers were to purchase, having identified the deception within the 市场营销 claim.

Zheng said her findings could have policy implications in the areas of consumer rights, false advertising and 市场营销 ethics.

“Our findings suggest that once consumers detect deception from a business, they are inclined to move on from that business,郑说. “This tells us that integrity in 市场营销 isn’t just about selling a product, it’s about building trust. It’s the cornerstone upon which lasting relationships between consumer and brand are built.”

Zheng earned two master’s degrees from the Mississippi State University and a doctorate in agricultural and resource economics with a concentration in food 市场营销 from the University of Connecticut. 2023年，郑是 授予 the university’s Donald D. Housley Teaching Award.