An Unintended Consequence of Product Upgrades: How Upgrades Can Make Current Consumers Feel Left Behind
研究发现，产品升级会让现有用户感到品牌在远离自己，从而产生负面反应，但提供额外的品牌联系可以缓解这种效应。
In today’s advanced economies, consumers are constantly exposed to an increasing number of upgraded products. This research examines consumer response to a brand's launching of an upgraded product and identifies the consumer's ownership status of a previous version of the product as a key dimension that can influence their reaction. Contrary to common intuition, the research demonstrates that while the release of an upgraded product is received positively by nonowners of a previous version, this is not always the case for owners. The authors propose that owners respond unfavorably because the new upgrade increases perceived distance between the owners and the brand as the brand progresses forward with the enhanced products. That is, when the new product replaces an existing product the consumers own, consumers perceive that the brand is moving away from them. This negative effect of an upgrade is attenuated if the owners are provided with an extra source of connection to the brand. The authors investigate this phenomenon in five studies and discuss the implications of their findings.