No purchase necessary to win.

• Position: Your Life - Consumer loyalty - Brief article

You probably have seen--or even participated in--promotional contests offered by retailers in which they say "no purchase required to win" but, if you are a loyal customer of that retailer, you do not necessarily believe that, suggests a study in the Journal of Consumer Research. You figure you must have some secret advantage over other, less-devoted customers. In fact, the research finds that loyal customers of a company feel that they are more likely and more deserving than others to win perks from the business--even those that are given out randomly.

This is driven by people's sense of deservingness," says study coauthor Rebecca Reczek. 'They think that if they have spent a lot of money with your company in the past, it is only fair that they get good things back--even in a random contest."

It is no surprise that a devoted...