Avoiding future regret in purchase-timing decisions

When deciding when to make a purchase, people often compare their outcomes to those that would have occurred had they purchased earlier or later. In t his article, we examine how pre- and postpurchase comparisons affect regret and satisfaction, and whether consumers learn to avoid decisions that resu lt in regret. In the first two experiments, we show that information learne d after the purchase has a greater impact on satisfaction than information learned before the purchase. In addition, negative price comparisons have a greater impact on satisfaction than positive comparisons. These results im ply that if consumers who receive postpurchase information wish to avoid fu ture feelings of regret, they should defer their purchases longer. Our seco nd two experiments demonstrate this phenomenon: Subjects who were exposed t o postchoice information set higher decision thresholds, consistent with th e minimization of future regret. Paradoxically, providing subjects with add itional postchoice information resulted in decreased average earnings, sugg esting that consumers may try to avoid future regret even when doing so con flicts with expected value maximization.