Tailor Prices Toward Names or Birthdays

We prefer things that resemble us (Pelham, Carvallo, & Jones, 2005).

Some researchers argue that this principle dictates our lives (e.g., people named Dennis are more likely to become dentists; Pelham, Mirenberg, & Jones, 2002).

It happens with prices too:

...consumers like prices (e.g., “fifty-five dollars”) that contain digits beginning with the same first letter (e.g., “F”) as their own name (e.g., “Fred,” “Mr. Frank”) more than prices that do not. Similarly, prices that contain cents digits (e.g., $49.15) that correspond to a consumer’s date of birth (e.g., April 15) also enhance pricing liking and purchase intentions. (Coulter and Grewal, 2014, p. 102)

Giving a quote? Perhaps you could adjust the numerals to match their name or birthday (after a quick glance at Facebook).

• Coulter, K. S., & Grewal, D. (2014). Name-letters and birthday-numbers: Implicit egotism effects in pricing. Journal of Marketing, 78(3), 102-120.
• Pelham, B. W., Carvallo, M., & Jones, J. T. (2005). Implicit egotism. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(2), 106-110.
• Pelham, B. W., Mirenberg, M. C., & Jones, J. T. (2002). Why Susie sells seashells by the seashore: implicit egotism and major life decisions. Journal of personality and social psychology, 82(4), 469.