It’s funny how much anchoring can influence consumer decisions. I’ve read a few great books on how this approach leads to both a higher perceived value and higher conversion rates.
There are reasons why everything is priced $_.99 rather than as whole numbers. Retailers prime the brain with the leading dollar amount and use the 99 cents as the added margin that your brain doesn’t consider as equal to the next whole dollar figure.
It can get complex, but it’s super interesting.
Studying how the human mind works can only make us smarter as marketers.
And as consumers.
Every day we’re exposed to thousands of unique stimuli. It’s these stimuli that tickle the nodes of the brain just enough to fuel thought and decision-making at a subconscious level. Nick Kolenda is an incredibly smart thought-leader on this concept. He’s so good that he uses priming to read people’s minds.
If we can understand how the brand correlates words and concepts to values, we can price more accurately and alleviate ourselves from the troubles of negotiation.
After all, there’s nothing worse than having to convince a potential customer that you’re worth what you’re asking for. If they don’t get it, they aren’t truly interested in what you can do.
I recommend reading Nick Kolenda’s book “Methods of Persuasion.” It’s a fascinating and easy read on all of this stuff. I promise it will make you feel smarter than you already are.