Latest / Behavioral Economics with Fexingo: Decision Making, Bias, and How People Really Spend
Why Your Brain Treats a Free Trial as a Debt You Owe
In this milestone 100th episode, Lucas and Luna explore the behavioral economics of free trials — specifically, why they often feel like a debt rather than a gift. Drawing on a 2023 study from the Journal of Consumer Research, they unpack the 'felt obligation' effect: the subtle guilt that drives us to convert even when the product disappoints. They contrast Spotify's free tier with a lesser-known case from a meditation app called Headspace, which found that users who took a free trial were 40% more likely to subscribe if they personalized their profile during the trial — a…
The skinny
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