Those of us humans who read from left to right are particularly vulnerable to a dubious price gadget. It is a tip that makes you more than you can pay for a delicious restaurant burger which costs $ 7.99 – and reluctant to the one that makes you go back $ 8 – even if the price only differs from a penny. This tip goes through many names. Charming price. Psychological price. And the rule of nine.
It works like that. Because most people from the Western world read from left to right, it is the first issue or letter of a sequence to which the brain of the Gourmie is careful. In the example above, your brain sees the price as seven dollars instead of eight. The nine at the end of the price disappears miraculously because the human brain is a bit lazy and removes it in a way in the name of efficiency.
Your brain’s desire to focus on the price decreases in direct proportion to the distance from the eye of the first number of the sequence. Ordinary English? The seven at the front of the price are made of crystal. The last nine of the sequence? For the brain, not so much. The price could read as well “$ 7 -Bla-bla”. Expert designers of clever catering menus for fast food chains benefit from this inexpensive psychological tip by dropping the price of your hamburger or your mini pizza in a penny.
Charming pricing a
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Most of the time, charming prices are used on the menus that are intended for consumers on a budget. However, all restaurants do not want their prices to shout “everything here is cheap!” Take gastronomic establishments. A Michelin star restaurant like the five in Paris, or Jungsik in New York, is unlikely to use such a pricing strategy. An aperitif of $ 40 would be at a price of $ 40, not $ 39.99 because customers are not on a low budget – and these restaurants are not low -budget brands.
In these cases, the more expensive the article, the higher the quality perceived. Note the word “perceived” here. The reality is that, unless you buy it supplies for restaurant cuisine, you (and everyone) don’t really have an idea of ​​what costs something. Essentially, customers assess a menu price based solely on what the restaurant tells them. This makes them more vulnerable to psychological hacks like these.
In other words, the hamburger that costs a restaurant $ 2 or $ 3 may seem at a reasonable price at $ 7.99 for the average consumer, especially if said hamburger is hastily ordered during a quick fast food service during lunchtime. The lowering of the price by a penny, therefore, gives the impression that theft; Although reality is, in many cases, it is not the consumer who obtains the case, but rather the articulation of fast food.