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The article makes mention on several occasions to the perceptions of customers (i.e. quality/value, small/large payments, etc). While it's good to try to unders

by kylec 18y ago

The article makes mention on several occasions to the perceptions of customers (i.e. quality/value, small/large payments, etc). While it's good to try to understand the way a customer perceives your price, I caution people against trying to play too many tricks with their customers heads. From #6: Think QVC (the shopping TV channel) offering items for 4 easy payments of $29.99 which is more appealing than $119.96. I would much rather pay for something advertised as $120 than "4 easy payments of $29.99", because the latter seems like they're trying way to hard to trick me into paying a price I don't want to pay.

tstegart 18y ago
Wait, you just said you'd pay $120, so how are they tricking you into a price you DON'T want to pay? Do you think its a bad practice because it increases the conversion rate, or because it might convince people to buy something they can't afford? After all, its the same price, just presented differently. If you would buy at $120, paying 4 payments doesn't matter. If you wouldn't buy at $120, but can afford it, and are convinced by 4 easy payments of $29.99, its not like you can't do math. At what point does a psychological trick become dirty? That one seems pretty basic, any idiot can add up the payments and know what price they're paying. Should we yell at gas stations because they convince dumb people to buy at a penny more by pricing it 1/100 of a cent below a higher price?
- kylec 18y ago
  You're right the price is the same - my gripe is how they attempt to obfuscate the true price by breaking it up into installments. When something is priced as X payments of Y (as opposed to the actual price, XY), there's an underlying assumption that I wouldn't purchase it at 1 payment of XY, otherwise why bother with the "installments" mindgame at all? Maybe I'm a overly sensitive to these sorts of indirections and concealments, but having to constantly expend energy to figure out how much something really costs can become wearing. And yes, I do find the fact that gas stations price at tenths of a cent to be very dishonest - especially when they ALWAYS round up to the nearest cent.
  - tstegart 18y ago
    Have you read Robert Ciadini's book? You should, it explains all the tricks marketers use to persuade you to buy something or buy into something. Most successful companies use some form of persuasion to get you to do something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini
  - BrandonM 18y ago
    But last I saw QVC, they do say the actual price, in addition to the Easy Payment stuff. Surely you can't argue with that?
staunch 18y ago
> I would much rather pay for something advertised as $120 than "4 easy payments of $29.99", because the latter seems like they're trying way to hard to trick me into paying a price I don't want to pay. Look at all the people that bought an iPhone for a down payment of $299 and 24 easy payments of $70.

by kylec 18y ago

tstegart 18y ago

Wait, you just said you'd pay $120, so how are they tricking you into a price you DON'T want to pay? Do you think its a bad practice because it increases the conversion rate, or because it might convince people to buy something they can't afford? After all, its the same price, just presented differently. If you would buy at $120, paying 4 payments doesn't matter. If you wouldn't buy at $120, but can afford it, and are convinced by 4 easy payments of $29.99, its not like you can't do math. At what point does a psychological trick become dirty? That one seems pretty basic, any idiot can add up the payments and know what price they're paying. Should we yell at gas stations because they convince dumb people to buy at a penny more by pricing it 1/100 of a cent below a higher price?

kylec 18y ago
You're right the price is the same - my gripe is how they attempt to obfuscate the true price by breaking it up into installments. When something is priced as X payments of Y (as opposed to the actual price, XY), there's an underlying assumption that I wouldn't purchase it at 1 payment of XY, otherwise why bother with the "installments" mindgame at all? Maybe I'm a overly sensitive to these sorts of indirections and concealments, but having to constantly expend energy to figure out how much something really costs can become wearing. And yes, I do find the fact that gas stations price at tenths of a cent to be very dishonest - especially when they ALWAYS round up to the nearest cent.
- tstegart 18y ago
  Have you read Robert Ciadini's book? You should, it explains all the tricks marketers use to persuade you to buy something or buy into something. Most successful companies use some form of persuasion to get you to do something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini
- BrandonM 18y ago
  But last I saw QVC, they do say the actual price, in addition to the Easy Payment stuff. Surely you can't argue with that?

staunch 18y ago

> I would much rather pay for something advertised as $120 than "4 easy payments of $29.99", because the latter seems like they're trying way to hard to trick me into paying a price I don't want to pay. Look at all the people that bought an iPhone for a down payment of $299 and 24 easy payments of $70.