89. People Might Care About Time More than They Care About Money

Say you’re out for a Sunday bike ride on your favorite path, and you come across some kids selling lemonade. Do you stop and buy lemonade? Do you like the lemonade? Does your buying or liking the lemonade have anything to do with the wording on the sign next to the lemonade stand? Apparently so.

Cassie Mogilner and Jennifer Aaker (2009) from the Stanford Graduate School of Business conducted a series of experiments to see whether references to time or references to money would affect whether people stopped to buy, how much they were willing to pay, and how satisfied they were with the products they bought. They conducted five experiments.

Spending Time Versus Spending Money

The first study was the lemonade stand previously described. Sometimes there was a sign that said “Spend a little time, and enjoy C & D’s lemonade.” This was the “time” condition. Sometimes the sign said “Spend a little money, and enjoy C & D’s lemonade” (money condition), and other times the sign said “Enjoy C & D’s lemonade” (control condition).

A total of 391 people passed by either on foot or on bikes. Those who stopped to purchase lemonade ranged in age from 14 to 50, and there was a mix of genders and occupations. Customers could pay anywhere from $1 to $3 for a cup of lemonade—the customer decided on the price. The authors comment that the high price was justified by the fact that the customers got to keep the high-quality plastic cup. After customers drank their lemonade they completed a survey.

More people stopped to buy lemonade when the sign mentioned time (14 percent). In fact, twice as many people stopped when time was mentioned than when money was mentioned (7 percent). In addition, customers in the time condition paid more money for the lemonade ($2.50 on average) than customers in the money condition ($1.38 on average). Interestingly, the control condition was in between on both the number of people stopping to purchase and the average price. In other words, mentioning time brought the most customers and the most money, mentioning money brought the fewest customers and the least money, and mentioning neither was in between. The same was true when customers filled out the satisfaction survey.

The researchers came up with the hypothesis that when you invoke time in the message, you make more of a personal connection than when you invoke money. To test this idea, they conducted four more experiments in the lab rather than in the field to see how the time versus money messaging affected people’s ideas about purchasing iPods, laptops, jeans, and cars.

People Want to Connect

At the end of all the experiments, the researchers concluded that people are more willing to buy, will spend more money, and will like their purchases better if there’s a personal connection. In most cases, that personal connection is triggered by references to time instead of money. The idea is that mentioning time highlights your experience with the product and that this thinking about the experience makes the personal connection.

However, for certain products (such as designer jeans or prestige cars) or for certain consumers (those who value possessions more than experiences), personal connection is highlighted by mentioning money more than by mentioning time. These people are in the minority, but they are out there.

Evaluate Your Audience

It’s important to know your audience. If they are influenced by prestige and possessions, then by all means mention money, but otherwise saving time might be more influential.