Make Sale Prices Look Different From Original Prices

Add visual distinctions to sales prices (e.g., color, size, font; Coulter and Coulter, 2005).

Why? Think of infomercials.

Viewers typically see the current problem in black-and-white, yet the new solution in vibrant color.

I call it contrast fluency. Visual differences feel like semantic differences: Hmm, something feels different. This product must make a big difference.

Same with numbers: Hmm, this sale price feels different. It must be numerically different.

Design your discount so that it looks different from the original price (e.g., font, size, color). It should seem numerically different as a result.

• 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.