In almost every purchasing decision, customers have the option to walk away. So the marketer's basic task is to persuade shoppers to part with their money. For example, retailers have known for years that allowing customers to delay payment can dramatically increase their willingness to buy. One reason delayed payments work is that the time value of money makes future payments less costly than immediate ones. But there is another, less rational basis for this phenomenon. Payments, like all losses, are viscerally unpleasant. So even small delays in payment can soften the immediate sting of parting with money and remove an important barrier to purchase. Yet the customer's aversion to losses offers marketers another strategy. There is overwhelming evidence that presenting customers with a particular option as a default increases the likelihood of that option's being chosen. This is illustrated by a case in which an Italian telecom company succeeded in increasing the acceptance rate of an offer made to customers who called to cancel their existing service. Originally, a script informed the customers that they would receive one hundred free calls if they kept their plan. When the script was reworded to say, We have already credited your account with one hundred calls, how could you use those? many more customers, not wanting to lose free talk time that they felt they already owned, kept their plan. A default, an unsolicited benefit the customer obtains unless the customer rejects it, works partly by instilling a perception of ownership before any purchase takes place, as the pleasure people derive from gains is less intense than the pain from equivalent losses. When we are given something by default, it becomes more valued than it would have been otherwise, and we are more loath to reject it. Defaults work best when decision makers are too indifferent, confused, or conflicted to consider their options. This principle is particularly relevant in a world that is increasingly awash with choices: a default eliminates the need to make a decision. The default, however, must also be a good choice for people. Attempting to mislead customers will ultimately backfire by breeding distrust.

In almost every purchasing decision, customers have the option to walk away. So the marketer's basic task is to persuade shoppers to part with their money. For example, retailers have known for years that allowing customers to delay payment can dramatically increase their willingness to buy. One reason delayed payments work is that the time value of money makes future payments less costly than immediate ones. But there is another, less rational basis for this phenomenon. Payments, like all losses, are viscerally unpleasant. So even small delays in payment can soften the immediate sting of parting with money and remove an important barrier to purchase. Yet the customer's aversion to losses offers marketers another strategy. There is overwhelming evidence that presenting customers with a particular option as a default increases the likelihood of that option's being chosen. This is illustrated by a case in which an Italian telecom company succeeded in increasing the acceptance rate of an offer made to customers who called to cancel their existing service. Originally, a script informed the customers that they would receive one hundred free calls if they kept their plan. When the script was reworded to say, We have already credited your account with one hundred calls, how could you use those? many more customers, not wanting to lose free talk time that they felt they already owned, kept their plan. A default, an unsolicited benefit the customer obtains unless the customer rejects it, works partly by instilling a perception of ownership before any purchase takes place, as the pleasure people derive from gains is less intense than the pain from equivalent losses. When we are given something by default, it becomes more valued than it would have been otherwise, and we are more loath to reject it. Defaults work best when decision makers are too indifferent, confused, or conflicted to consider their options. This principle is particularly relevant in a world that is increasingly awash with choices: a default eliminates the need to make a decision. The default, however, must also be a good choice for people. Attempting to mislead customers will ultimately backfire by breeding distrust.

In almost every purchasing decision, customers have the option to walk away. So the marketer's basic task is to persuade shoppers to part with their money. For example, retailers have known for years that allowing customers to delay payment can dramatically increase their willingness to buy. One reason delayed payments work is that the time value of money makes future payments less costly than immediate ones. But there is another, less rational basis for this phenomenon. Payments, like all losses, are viscerally unpleasant. So even small delays in payment can soften the immediate sting of parting with money and remove an important barrier to purchase. Yet the customer's aversion to losses offers marketers another strategy. There is overwhelming evidence that presenting customers with a particular option as a default increases the likelihood of that option's being chosen. This is illustrated by a case in which an Italian telecom company succeeded in increasing the acceptance rate of an offer made to customers who called to cancel their existing service. Originally, a script informed the customers that they would receive one hundred free calls if they kept their plan. When the script was reworded to say, We have already credited your account with one hundred calls, how could you use those? many more customers, not wanting to lose free talk time that they felt they already owned, kept their plan. A default, an unsolicited benefit the customer obtains unless the customer rejects it, works partly by instilling a perception of ownership before any purchase takes place, as the pleasure people derive from gains is less intense than the pain from equivalent losses. When we are given something by default, it becomes more valued than it would have been otherwise, and we are more loath to reject it. Defaults work best when decision makers are too indifferent, confused, or conflicted to consider their options. This principle is particularly relevant in a world that is increasingly awash with choices: a default eliminates the need to make a decision. The default, however, must also be a good choice for people. Attempting to mislead customers will ultimately backfire by breeding distrust.