Planned or Impulse Purchases? How to Create Effective lnfomercials

ABSTRACT Conventional wisdom suggests that most purchases made from infomercials - 30-minute direct-response television advertisements - are made on impulse. However, this study of 878 infomercial purchasers of six products from a major international infomercial marketer indicates that the majority of purchase decisions involved some degree of planning rather than simply being made on the spur of the moment. Factors influencing whether a purchase was an impulse or planned decision included: comments by experts, demonstrations, the levels of previous product interest, pre-purchase thinking about the product, and prior exposure to the advertisement, as well as the number of infomercials viewed by consumers. Having children aged between 10 and 14 years old also had an influence.

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