Pay For It and Love It More: A comparative study in marketing psychology between the two campaign methods Pay What You Want and Free

Abstract: This thesis examines whether the marketing procedure Pay What You Want (PWYW) has a stronger positive influence on a consumer’s attitude towards a product in relation to free product trials (FREE). This was studied on students of Lund University with the tool SC-IAT. While FREE gives the product away without further ado, PWYW allows the consumer the freedom to buy a product at any amount of their choosing. No significant change in attitude was found. The amount of money participants were willing to pay could only partially be predicted by the degree of recognition and not by any explicit measurement of attitude. However, the consumer is affected by the perceived cognitive dissonance: While the customer’s internal homo economicus pushes them to pay the smallest possible amount, the self-image prevents them from imposing on the offer to their own advantage. Marketers of PWYW are recommended to focus on achieving acceptance of the offer, rather than what amount the consumer is willing to pay. Further studies exploring the relationship between internal dissonance and the size of the payment is proposed.