E-commerce & Pricing Psychology
Prices are rarely purely rational. How a price is displayed, how many options sit next to it and how a checkout is built all change decisions. That is well documented. Less clear is which laboratory findings carry over to online shops, pricing pages and B2B offers.
This hub sorts pricing patterns by their evidence. Each pattern has an effect score and a transfer score, so you can see at a glance where the research is strong and where you should test before relying on it.
Guides in this area
Anchoring in pricing: why the first price shapes every later one
How reference prices and price order shape purchase decisions, how well the anchoring effect is supported, and where legal and ethical limits lie.
- Effect
- Established
- Transfer
- Plausible
Charm pricing and price presentation: .99 endings, round prices and currency symbols
When .99 endings help, when round prices sell better, and what to make of currency-symbol tricks, with evidence from a meta-analysis and field studies.
Charm pricing (.99)- Effect
- Context-dependent
- Transfer
- Partially supported
Dropping the currency symbol- Effect
- Weak
- Transfer
- Hypothesis
The decoy effect in pricing tables: what the research shows
How a dominated plan can steer choice, what lab and market data show, where the effect is disputed and how to test it fairly.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
- Transfer
- Plausible
Discount framing: percent or euro? The Rule of 100 put to the test
When does a percentage discount work, and when an absolute amount? The research behind the Rule of 100, its limits, and how to test discount framing fairly.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
- Transfer
- Plausible
Micro-commitments in the funnel: what is supported and what is not
The research behind foot-in-the-door and sunk cost, what it shows for checkouts and lead forms, and what is so far only a hypothesis.
Foot-in-the-door- Effect
- Weak
- Transfer
- Plausible
Sunk cost- Effect
- Context-dependent
- Transfer
- Hypothesis
Progress indicators: why they work and when they do not
What goal gradient, endowed progress and the Zeigarnik effect show, and how to use progress indicators honestly in checkout, onboarding and loyalty programs.
Goal gradient- Effect
- Context-dependent
- Transfer
- Partially supported
Endowed progress- Effect
- Context-dependent
- Transfer
- Partially supported
Ovsiankina (resumption)- Effect
- Context-dependent
- Transfer
- Plausible
Zeigarnik (memory)- Effect
- Weak
- Transfer
- Hypothesis
Pattern map
Patterns on the map
- Anchoring effect
- Sunk cost
- Decoy effect
- Discount framing (% versus €)
- Ovsiankina (resumption)
- Charm pricing (.99)
- Goal gradient
- Endowed progress
- Dropping the currency symbol
- Zeigarnik (memory)
- Foot-in-the-door
Shaded: area of high evidence level