Anticipation can be the sweetest reward, but, as with many things, there are conditions. It can peter out if you have to wait too long, if somebody has decided what you will be waiting for, and if you have thought too hard in advance about the object or experience.

These findings on the complexities of anticipation emerged from research on delays in consumption and whether choice played a role, by Elaine Chan (former doctoral student at HKUST, now at Tilburg University) and Anirban Mukhopadhyay.

Other studies have found delay can produce opposing effects, either increasing or decreasing evaluations, but were unclear about when each result would prevail. Choice seemed to be a factor since studies that found discounting, i.e., decreases in evaluations, usually asked people to evaluate items chosen for them by the experimenters. So the authors decided to look at what happens when people made their own choices.

They conducted three experiments using "hedonic" products tickets to a play, tickets to a concert, and chocolate on the expectation that getting to people to choose something they were really interested in would feed the sense of anticipation, so it could be studied more closely.

Participants were divided into those who chose a product for themselves and those who had the same product chosen for them, and asked to evaluate the product after periods ranging from no delay to up to one months delay. Rather than a clear-cut preference when they had a choice, though, a complex pattern emerged.

Those who selected their products said they were more likely to attend performances or consume the chocolate, and to rate the experience positively, if there was a one-week delay between choice and consumption. This finding was stronger than if there was no delay, or if delays lasted over two weeks.

In contrast, when the choice was made for them, the highest evaluation and participation rates were immediately after a choice was made, tapering off as delays increased.

The authors said a perceived lack of control was at play. "Our theory was that autonomy and perceived control would only influence intrinsic motivation and the resulting evaluations if individuals were inherently interested in the activity," the authors said. "When the choice was made by somebody else, individuals discounted the delayed consumption irrespective of how interesting the consumption was."

Interestingly, getting people to focus on their anticipation also had a muting effect. When participants were asked to rate their anticipation and evaluate the products before consumption, they reported a lower post-consumption evaluation.

"Other researchers have shown that making a prediction about an uncertain outcome can lead consumers to enjoy the event less than those who do not make such a prediction because the act of predicting focuses attention on how they would feel if the prediction went wrong. It may be that the negative effect of post-consumption evaluations that we found was caused by respondents having previously made a prediction about their consumption experience," the authors said.

The findings have practical implications, especially for marketers of hedonic products. For one, it may not be helpful to have agents provide evaluations and recommendations and simplify choices, as this reduces self-choice.

Marketers might also consider drawing on the effects of delay on anticipation to determine cancellation schedules and pick the best time to collect cancellation fees and resell the freed seats.

"Our results also suggest that maximizing pre-consumption evaluations may, ironically, not be the wisest strategy for marketers to follow, especially in situations where consumers are especially aware of their own expectations prior to the consumption. There appears to be an optimal temporal distance at which consumers most look forward to their consumption. While the one-week period we observed may not be uniformly applicable to all contexts, managers would be well-advised to be cognizant of the relevant time period in their specific domain," they say.