Consumer memory for intentions: A prospective memory perspective

Consumers often forget intentions to purchase products. Successful completion of intentions depends on a prospective (memory that previously, intentions were formed) and a retrospective component (memory for content of the intentions). Results from 2 experiments show that the prospective component benefits from self-initiated retrieval (vs, externally cued), relations between intentions, and relations between the content of multiple intentions. The retrospective component benefits from relations between an external intent cue and the content and relations between the content of multiple intentions. These results are interpreted using an activation theory of prospective memory. The implication is that marketing models used to forecast sales should incorporate memory as a variable to explain why some intentions do not lead to purchases.