Effort to Receive Sales Promotion Benefit (Pre-purchase)

What it measures

A three-item scale measuring the perceived effort a consumer expended before a purchase in collecting and preparing materials required to redeem a sales promotion. Items tap the physical and temporal burden of coupon and proof-of-purchase collection, overall time and effort investment in the promotion, and the effort involved in preparing materials for redemption. The scale captures the pre-purchase dimension of promotion redemption burden — the friction cost consumers experience in qualifying for a promotional benefit.

Response format

Likert (format not specified; likely 7-point)

Scale items

• I spent a lot of effort in collecting the coupons and UPC codes in order to get the deal.
• I feel that I spent a lot of time and effort in trying to get the promotion.
• It took a lot of effort to get ready to redeem the coupons.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Single reliability estimate: α = .94 — Xia, Kukar-Kinney & Monroe (2010, Study 3, n = 186 undergraduates). VALIDITY: Used as a manipulation check confirming effort level manipulations, providing limited concurrent validity evidence. NOTE: Response format not specified. Items reference coupons and UPC codes specifically; researchers examining other promotion formats (e.g., instant rebates, QR code redemptions) should review item wording for contextual fit. Companion to the Post-purchase Effort scale (ESPP) from the same study.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Xia, Lan, Monika Kukar-Kinney, and Kent B. Monroe (2010). Effects of consumers' efforts on price and promotion fairness perceptions. Journal of Retailing, 86(1), 1–10.

Keywords