Discount now or later? The effect of payment framing on consumer preferences for discount timing in periodic payments

초록

Consistent with the standard model of time discounting, subscription firms typically offer introductory discounts early in the subscription. However, we demonstrate that consumers are more likely to prefer a delayed discount when the discount is expressed in the same unit as the recurring price (e.g., "$10,$10, $5").Theidenticalframingleadsconsumerstoperceivethepaymentsasacoherentsequence,makingiteasiertoidentifyanimprovingpatternandprojectitforward,therebyloweringexpectationsofthepost-promotionprice.Bycontrast,whenthediscountisframeddifferentlyfromtherecurringprice(e.g.,"$10, $10, 50% off"), it is perceived as a segregated gain, and consumers revert to the standard preference for immediate benefits. Across four studies, we demonstrate this effect using actual online click-through behavior (Study 1) and identify the underlying mechanism: the preference for delayed discounts arises from lower future price expectations driven by sequence-continuation inferences (Study 2). Consistent with this account, the effect disappears when the basis for this inference is removed-either by disclosing the renewal price (Study 3) or by disrupting sequence coherence (Study 4). Four supplementary studies further generalize the findings across product categories and narrative pricing displays and rule out several alternative explanations.

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