You Have to Pay Now! The Effects of Choice Options in Unexpected Free-to-Fee Switches

摘要

The authors focus on unexpected free-to-fee switches and investigate two research questions on the possibilities to attenuate their negative consequences. First, it is examined how an unexpected forced free-to-fee switch and the unexpected introduction of a so-called "freemium" model, which additionally offers customers the choice to use a previously unavailable free reduced version of the product, lead to differences in customers' attitudes and behavior. Second, it is investigated how the extent of feature reduction of the free versions used in a freemium switch influences customer reactions.