Via The Atantic: It’s true that free samples help consumers learn more about products, and that they make retail environments more appealing. But samples are operating on a more subconscious level as well. Reciprocity is a very, very strong instinct, says Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University. If somebody does something for you —such as giving you a quarter of a ravioli on a piece of wax paper—you really feel a rather surprisingly strong obligation to do something back for them.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 01:46:52 +0000