Which would you rather have?
When a customer wants to know how a product will make his or her life better, time is almost always included as a factor in that question. Will this product organize my/save me/give me time? Money comes and goes, but time is something no one gets back. As such, there is an implied value of time in our lives. Often we feel that we need to take advantage of it as much as possible. (If you have kids, you definitely know this.)
In a recent Stanford study, authors Jennifer Aaker, the General Atlantic Professor of Marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Cassie Mogilner discovered that, “…referring to time typically leads to more favorable attitudes—and to more purchases.” In one case study, they found that advertising stressing time (“Spend a little time and enjoy C&D’s lemonade”) was more attractive to customers than advertising that stressed money (“Spend a little money, and enjoy C&D’s lemonade”).
Understanding the connection between a customer and a product helps you build better advertising. If the advertisement conveys time as a benefit to the customer when using the product, the customer may take the next steps on the path to purchase. In a market downturn where price is already the hot topic, this may be that extra incentive in a customer’s path to purchase.
You can download the fascinating research paper here.
This theory isn’t just limited to screen time. I’ve noticed when I incorporate time into my Twitter updates, I receive more feedback, and usually resulting in more followers.
There’s definitely some solid credibility to this.