Comparing Consumer Reactions to Percentage and Absolute Values: An Analogue Magnitude Encoding Perspective

When marketers wish to communicate a change in a quantifiable product attribute, such as price, weight, or volume, they often do so by providing the original quantity along with the amount of the change. The original quantity can be referred to as a primary, or base, value, and the change amount can be referred to as a secondary value. Secondary values are typically indicated in one of two formats: (1) as a percentage of the primary value (e.g., 20 oz. plus 10% extra) or (2) as an absolute value (e.g., 20 oz. plus 2 oz. extra). Interestingly, even when the two formats convey equivalent quantities, research suggests that consumers may not perceive them as such (e.g., Chen, Monroe, and Lou 1998; DelVecchio, Krishnan, and Smith 2007; Heath, Chatterjee, and France 1995; Kim and Kramer 2006a).