Pricing
Tactic
Offer a Similar (Yet Worse) Product
Existing products feel more appealing with a "decoy option" nearby.
Overview
A popular study tested subscription options to the Economist magazine:
- $59 — Digital
- $125 — Print
- $125 — Print and Digital
At first glance, it seems wrong. You can buy the digital and print for the same price as the print only.
But alas, it’s a decoy option.
Nobody chooses the “print” subscription, but this option shifts demand toward the “print and digital” subscription, a more expensive plan (Ariely, 2008).
- Ariely, D., & Jones, S. (2008). Predictably irrational. New York: HarperCollins.