A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

How to nudge industrial customers to accept free-to-fee service price switches?




AuthorsKeränen, Joona; Salonen, Anna; Terho, Harri; Munnukka, Juha

PublisherElsevier BV

Publication year2026

Journal: Industrial Marketing Management

Volume134

First page 186

Last page197

ISSN0019-8501

eISSN1873-2062

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2026.01.008

Publication's open availability at the time of reportingOpen Access

Publication channel's open availability Partially Open Access publication channel

Web address https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2026.01.008

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/523414152

Self-archived copy's licenceCC BY

Self-archived copy's versionPublisher`s PDF


Abstract

Capturing value from service provision is a persistent challenge for many firms. Sometimes, business-to-business (B2B) suppliers offer services for free to increase customer adoption at the early stages of servitization or to boost product sales. If customers initially receive services for free, managing the switch from free-to-fee at later stages is difficult. To address this managerial challenge, we examine how sellers of digital industrial services can use behavioral nudges to increase customer acceptance of a free-to-fee price switch. Using a scenario-based experiment with 386 industrial buyers, we test the effects of three choice architectures—motive justification, social influence-focused information provision, and loss versus gain framing—on customer willingness to switch. Our findings indicate that these nudges increase acceptance, but their effects range from small to medium and occur only among attentive audiences. The study contributes to both theory and practice by demonstrating that cognitive biases and decision-making heuristics play a role in B2B service pricing. Although nudges should not be viewed as a universal solution for behavioral change, their simplicity and low implementation costs make them a practical tool for managers. We encourage future research to critically examine the boundary conditions that influence nudge effectiveness across diverse B2B decision-making situations.


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Funding information in the publication
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Foundation for Economic Education (grant number 230387) in supporting the financing of data collection. The funding source had no involvement in conducting, preparing, or publishing the research reported herein.


Last updated on 21/05/2026 01:52:25 PM