Abstract

The objective of the paper was to determine whether different characteristics of a coupon can impact consumer perceptions of the brand featured on coupons. An experiment using a homogeneous group of male subjects in a controlled classroom setting exposed subjects to one of eight coupons, each representing one of eight possible conditions of a combination of two levels of three independent variables tested in a 2 x 2 x 2 experimental design: face value, manner in which the offer was stated, and familiarity with the featured brand. Subjects were asked to respond to a questionnaire measuring perceptions such as psychological value of using the coupon, perceived quality, perceived price, liking for the brand, liking for the offer, intention to use the offer, and perceived risk in using the coupon. Findings show that the independent variables all have significant impact on consumer perceptions of the brand featured on coupons. Among them, liking for the coupon and intention to use it increase more dramatically with increases in face value when the brand is familiar. Also, when only the face value was shown, liking and intention increased more with face value for the familiar brand than the unfamiliar one. Finally, coupon proneness and value consciousness add to the understanding of consumer perceptions. Coupon prone consumers pay less attention to face values, and have more positive perceptions of coupons when only the face values are shown. Highly value conscious consumers, on the other hand, pay attention to the magnitude of the face values.