4 Psychological factors to adjust the prices of your Ecommerce

Price is one of the elements that has the greatest influence in the decision to buy online, this is something known and studied from the beggining of online sales. Some of these studies, such as Price Waterhouse Coopers, conclude that the price affects the purchase decision in up to 60% for known products or markets. This percentage increases even more when the purchase is of emerging or novel products, as the study of Global Retail E-Commerce of ATKearny says.

Given the vital importance of the price for online sales, defining a price strategy for an ecommerce means dominating much more than economic factors such as cost, margins or competitive prices. It means knowing the repercussions of the price on the user's perception, as to apply them and increase the conversion.

1. The power of number 9

Many studies show the power of the number nine at a nearly rounded price, i.e. a price of €4.99 instead of €5.00. According to neuroscience studies, there is an effect called 'The left digit' that causes the way the price to be perceived to be anchored in the first digit on the left, before the coma.

The consequence for the way of perceiving is that between the price of € 4.99 and the price of € 5.00, the first is much more attractive. In terms of conversion, the first price turns more than the second, and not because it is just a penny less, but because of the way it is perceived.

2. Prices in detail or rounded

When a user has to make a more rational purchasing decision, such as a laptop or an electrical appliance, a price without rounding and with decimals seems to be appropriate. In this type of decisions, the potential buyer compares characteristics and functionalities, so that a price without rounding and with cents (for example a computer at 687.85 €) is visually more appropriate, since it has the appearance of being calculated with precision.

With products where the decision has a high emotional component, such as furniture or decoration, for example, the effect is the reverse because sensations come into play. In these cases the rational quantities are not decisive; the important thing is the colours, the textures or the forms. That is why in these products rounded prices (for example a sofa at 690 €) generate less distraction and more conversion.

3. The size of typography does matter

It is proven that the prices shown in small typeface tend to convert more than the larger versions, in equal visualization design situations.

Studies by Professor Vicki Morwitz of the University of New York explain that in our minds, the physical magnitudes are related to the numerical ones. That is to say, contrary to what might seem, a price presented in too large a size is counterproductive for the conversion as low a price it may be, since mentally a large number is associated with a high price.

4. The power of syllables

The amount of syllables that the price of a product has influences in the purchase decision. This is one of the factors of perception perhaps less used when fixing prices, but the studies of psychology show that the quantity of syllables of a price influences the perception of its amount.

That is to say, the smaller the number of syllables of a price, the less the mental need to interpret it and, consequently, the feeling of being a small quantity.

An example with numbers and syllables; two prices like € 71.80 and € 72.10 have 6 and 5 syllables, respectively, as they are spelled as follows: se-ven-ty-one-eight-y the first price, and the second se-ven-ty-two-ten.

The second price, € 72.10, despite being higher requires less mental effort than the first and will be perceived as a low price.

In short, the price is mathematics and economics; the process of buying of the user is psychology.