Free or $0? Exploring the Match Effect Between Free Promotion Types and Consumption Types

Free promotions, commonly expressed as “free” or “$0,” are widely used in sales strategies, yet their impact on tourists’ responses, specifically within the tourism context, remains underexplored. We conducted three studies to investigate the match effect between free promotion types (“get it for $0” vs. “get it free”) and consumption types (utilitarian-dominant vs. hedonic-dominant). Our findings reveal that associating the “get it for $0” promotion with utilitarian-dominant consumption and the “get it free” promotion with hedonic-dominant consumption results in more favorable attitudes among tourists (Study 1). This effect is mediated by tourists’ focus on cost-saving and benefit-gaining (Study 2) and moderated by advertising language (cognitive vs. affective; Study 3). Our findings provide actionable insights for marketers designing effective free promotion strategies.