Reactions of the jilted consumer

•We explore the effect of differential promotion strategies on fairness perceptions.•We examined retailer initiated deals versus customer initiated deals.•Retailer initiated attempts to provide a deal increase fairness perceptions.•Retailer initiated attempts to provide a deal lead to improved marketing outcomes.

Differential promotion strategies are a vital relationship marketing tool that is advantageous to both the company and the targeted customer. However, a differential approach means some customers do not fare as well as others. The customers who get the lesser deals are the focus of this study. How does a customer react when they learn another customer received a better deal? How should the provider respond when this imbalance is obvious to the customer? Fairness theory is utilized to address these research questions. The study includes an experiment featuring hypothetical scenarios. MANOVA results reveal that a proactive, upfront strategic response can mitigate the negative effects of differential promotion strategies in terms of fairness perceptions and behavioral outcomes.