Pricing
Place “Small” Words Near the Price
Insert words that depict a small size (e.g., “low,” “small,” “tiny”).
People group items that are close together. It's called the gestalt principle of proximity.
Interestingly, visual grouping triggers a semantic grouping: Grouped objects converge into single unified meaning. I call it convergent processing. The underlying mechanism is a bit complex, but you can refer to Chapter 4 of my book The Tangled Mind to learn the details.
This effect happens with pricing. In one study, an inline skate seemed cheaper when “Low Friction” appeared near the price because people merged the concept of "low" into the price. The skate seemed more expensive when “High Performance” was near the price (Coulter & Coulter, 2005).
- Coulter, K. S., & Coulter, R. A. (2005). Size does matter: The effects of magnitude representation congruency on price perceptions and purchase likelihood. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(1), 64-76.