MARKETING RESEARCH

How marketers express time can affect what consumers buy, study finds

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2026

Subtle differences in language can shape how consumers make certain time-focused buying decisions, Canadian researchers say.

Which feels further back in time: the year 2016 or 10 years ago? And which feels closer: 2036 or 10 years from now? 

 

According to new research from the University of British Columbia in Canada, the way time is expressed – as a calendar year or as a length of time – can change how people experience the past and the future, thereby influencing consumer decision making.  

 

That’s important, the researchers emphasise, because time-based language is everywhere and could affect how much people are willing to pay for a product.  

 

For example, which whisky would consumers be willing to pay more for: one that is sold as ‘10-year-old’ whisky – or the one that was distilled in 2015 and bottled in 2025?

 

Other examples of time-based marketing messaging may include ‘20-year mortgages’, a ‘2019-model car’ or ‘vintage wines’. 

Photo: Furkanfdemir from Pexels

While these phrases may seem interchangeable, the research shows they can create different impressions in consumers’ minds. 

 

When time is described as a length – a 10-year-old whisky – people tend to perceive it as longer than when the same age is described using a year, such as a whisky from 2016. The researchers call this phenomenon the ‘year-length effect’. 

 

When age is valued, consumers have more favourable perceptions when time is framed by length in marketing messaging. On the other hand, when age reduces value, as with used goods, framing the product by year is preferable. 

 

Be aware of your marketing goals 

 

“If the goal is to signal longevity, history or oldness, then you should use the number of years,” explains Dr Deepak Sirwani, an associate professor and co-author of the study.  

 

“If the goal is to signal something new, then you should use the boundary years. The same logic applies to the future.” 

 

To explore the impact of time framing, the researchers analysed auction data and conducted controlled experiments.  

 

In whisky auctions, bottles described by length of time commanded about 9% higher prices. For used goods, the pattern reversed: sellers on an items-for-sale website earned roughly 17% more when they stated the purchase year rather than the item’s age. 

 

So, what’s driving this effect? According to Dr Sirwani, people perceive the jump from a large number to another large number as smaller than a leap between two smaller numbers. 

 

“Our mental number line is logarithmic, meaning the difference between numbers feels smaller as they increase,” he says. “The difference between 11 and 12 feels smaller than the difference between two and three. And the difference between 2020 and 2021 feels much smaller than the difference between one and two.” 

 

The bottom line is that marketers need to be mindful of how they express time, as subtle differences in language can shape how consumers think and decide. 

 

The study is published in the Journal of Marketing Research. You can find out more about it here. 

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