Goldilocks effect: How to price different options for a product

When it comes to pricing options, how different should the prices be? Should your most expensive option be a little bit pricier than the middle option, or a lot? Should your cheapest option be super low, or closer to the middle? The answer is to price using asymmetrical anchors, drawing your customer’s attention to the option you want them to buy.

Anchors the way

The behavioural principle of ‘anchoring’ is central to how your customer perceives price.

A jacket that was $500 will seem like a great deal when it is marked down to $350, for example, or a meeting that was booked for 60 minutes but wrapped up in fifty will seem like a win.

That is because the first information received becomes the ‘anchor’ – a contextual set point, against which value can be judged. If you want to make an option look like the best choice, that means it is best to communicate from most expensive to least.