Did you recently got promoted?

Then you upgraded your phone/car? Do you know why you did that?

A marketing study titled “Egocentric Improvement Evaluations: Change in the Self as an Anchor for
Brand Improvement Judgments,” by Sokiente W. Dagogo-Jack and Mark R. Forehand explored how
consumers sense of identity, when they claim themselves having an improved lifestyle, thinks or
having a perception that a product has gotten better as well as willing to pay for that upgraded
product.

In the experiment of IPhone 5 and IPhone 6, the subjects were asked to list three ways they had
improved in the last 10 years. On another sheet, they were asked to compare the phone’s features
and rate the improvement between the phones. They were then asked about their willingness to
buy IPhone 6.

Subjects who rated themselves high marks for self-improvement and strongly identified with Apple,
were more aware of the iPhone 6’s improvements and more willing to buy it. Similar result obtained
in experiment involving Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5 as well as when the experiment is then tested
with a tagline “You’ve improved in significant ways. This is [the iPhone] 7.

Researcher concluded that, stimulating thoughts of self-improvement may be a successful tool for
enhancing product improvement perceptions which leads to willingness to purchase.