How the Anchoring Effect can change your customer experience

Why first impressions radically change our decisions.

Photo by Denys Argyriou on Unsplash

We have a very narrow view of what is going on.

—Daniel Kahneman

Have you ever bought something just because it was on sale?

Your rational mind knows that the sale price is never the real price. But you were persuaded by the deal. “It’s 50% off,” you say to yourself, “I’ve saved so much money!”.

Photo by Justin Lim on Unsplash

Seeing the regular price and then the sale price influenced you. It made you feel like you were getting an unmissable deal.

But in reality, the business will still make money off the reduced price. And having a “sale” triggered a purchase that they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

So why are sales such a powerful persuasion tool?

It’s all down to a behavioral science principle known as the Anchoring Effect.

What is the Anchoring Effect?