Started by Pete Lindgren (@petelindgren) ·
the decoy effect, and why it's weaker than the books say
The famous example: web-only subscription $59, print-only $125, print plus web $125. Nobody wants print-only, but its being there makes the bundle look like a steal.
5 sources · 27 min down the hole
How I got here
- Started with
- “decoy effect economist subscription example”
- Ended at
- “decoy pricing examples that work”
The Trail
- “decoy effect economist subscription example” (google.com)
- Decoy effect (en.wikipedia.org)
- Predictably Irrational (en.wikipedia.org)
the Economist subscription example is from here
- “frederick lee baskin limits of attraction decoy” (google.com)
- “decoy pricing examples that work” (reddit.com)
What I came away with
Adding an option that's clearly worse than one of the others can push people toward that one. It shows up reliably in lab setups with neat numbers, but a 2014 paper found it much harder to reproduce with more realistic choices. Real, but not a magic lever.
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