Pricing Theory, Simplified and Visualized

You know, a price isn’t just a number. It always comes with context, a story.

The wrong story can make a good price seem bad. And vice versa.

Let’s say we want to sell some water👇

1. Decoy Pricing

The premium costs only a bit more than the decoy but provides much more value.

low cost, decoy, and premium pricing

2. Location Pricing

pricing of same product at different locations

3. Relative Pricing

Good positioning makes customers compare your product with more expensive products.

comparing prices of relevant products like water, wine, gin
Credit: "Influence," R. Cialdini

4. Social Pricing

People tend to only speak about very expensive or very cheap stuff they bought.

social pricing, people talk only about the very cheap or very expensive products they buy
Credit: Alchemy by Rory Sutherland

5. Magic of the Middle

​Those who don’t know the market, or don’t care, will usually choose the middle option.

social pricing, middle, expensive, and sketchy
Credit: Confessions of the Pricing Man by Hermann Simon

6. Bundle Pricing

​Use bundling to sell more while reducing the price just a little.

bundle pricing, selling more by reducing the price of a bundle by a little bit

7. Breakdown Pricing

​Breakdown the high price into smaller units.

breakdown pricing into smaller units
Credit: Allie Decker, HubSpot

​8. Price vs Value

Is the price the main benefit? Emphasize it. If not, emphasize something else.

price vs value, emphasize the main benefit
Credit: The AdWeek Copywriting Handbook - J. Sugarman

9. Urgency-Based Pricing

​Create scarcity by promising to raise prices.

urgency pricing, showing the price today, tomorrow, and next month

10. The Rule of 100

​If the price is lower than $100, discount in %. If it’s higher than $100, discount in $.

​If the price is lower than $100, discount in %. If it’s higher than $100, discount in $
Credit: Contagious, J. Berger

11. Premium vs Low-Cost

Premium vs Low-Cost pricing, rounding the price

12. Penetration Pricing

penetration pricing, introduce, build a habit to buy, build a long-term habit

Bonus: Pricing Placebo

​In a study, two groups drank the same wine; half thought it was expensive, and the others thought it was cheap. The “expensive” wine people had a blast. But those who drank the “cheap” wine hated it.

Credit: University of Bonn – Why expensive wine appears to taste better (2017)

In this recipe

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