The Effects of Pressure and Self-Assurance Nudges on Product Purchases and Returns in Online Retailing: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment
通过随机现场实验，比较了自我肯定型和压力型助推对消费者购买和退货行为的经济效应，发现自我肯定助推能同时带来短期高销量和长期低退货率。
Through a randomized field experiment, this study compares the economic effects of two categories of nudges—self-assurance- and pressure-based interventions—on consumers’ purchase and return behaviors. In contrast to pressure-oriented nudges, such as quantity scarcity, time scarcity, and social persuasion, self-assurance nudges are intended to facilitate the validation of product choice and style/size characteristics as well as the self-assurance-grounded justification of the purchase. The findings reveal that self-assurance nudges designed to help consumers make better choices have both short-term (high sales) and long-term (few product returns) benefits. Although pressure-driven nudges offer slightly higher short-term benefits (high sales), they eventually engender unfavorable long-term outcomes (high product returns) for consumers and online retailers. Finally, using return-adjusted net sales as performance measures, the authors find that self-assurance-based nudges are as effective in stimulating purchase as those that capitalize on scarcity and social pressure.