Their tricks can work even if you know about them

The psychology of selling makes me kind of sad. I wish that everyone could just price fairly, explain the product honestly, and we’d go from there. That’s clearly a dream that will never happen, and psychology will always play a part in human-led purchasing decisions.

What’s interesting is that psychological tricks can work even if the customer knows that they’re happening. From “ Poor Charlie’s Almanack “:

Contrast-misreaction tendency is routinely used to cause disadvantage for customers buying merchandise and services. To make an ordinary price seem low, the vendor will very frequently create a highly artificial price that is much higher than the price always sought, then advertise his standard price as a big reduction from his phony price. Even when people know that this sort of customer manipulation is being attempted, it will often work to trigger buying.

This makes me think of two things.

First, I see Publix and other grocery stores do this all the time. I know it’s bogus and my wife knows it’s bogus, but it still feels good to see the “ You saved $31.41 on your order today “ at the bottom of your receipt.

The other is the J.C. Penney story from recent years, when former Apple executive Ron Johnson took over and removed essentially all of the fake…