Syntax and the Illusion of Fit: How Grammatical Subject Influences Persuasion[$29 for 70 Items or 70 Items for $29? How Presentation Order Affects Package Perceptions]

We examine how the grammatical subject of a marketing claim affects persuasion. We refer to this phenomenon as the subject bias and introduce the distinction between users subjects (where product users are the grammatical subject of a sentence) and product subjects (where the product is the grammatical subject of the sentence). We find that users subjects can lead to an illusion of fit, where a reader believes that an offer provides a better fit for oneself than for other consumers, which, in turn, affects persuasion. Eight experiments, including a field study, provide support for the subject bias in different domains, ranging from online dating services to medical products, and uncover the underlying process along with its boundary conditions while ruling out alternative explanations. These findings advance the understanding of the antecedents and consequences of idiosyncratic fit and introduce a novel language effect in consumer research that has theoretical, methodological, and practical implications.