This might look like a standard SaaS pricing page, but it’s actually a brilliant example of psychological pricing.
Mailchimp uses 5 psychological pricing strategies to make us spend more:
Anchoring: The first product costs £274/month, but the others are £10 and £15, which seems like a massive bargain compared to the high anchor.
Tripwire Offer: Only £1 for the first month – a tripwire offer is an irresistibly low price (e.g. $1) that’s compelling enough to overcome the high mental hurdle of committing to buy and entering payment details. After that, it’s much easier to upsell and retain the customer, especially if the product delivers immediate value.
Left Digit Effect: Pricing just below the next highest dollar amount, like $9.99. Consumers tend to perceive prices with .99 or .95 endings as significantly lower than the next whole number because the leftmost digit has a stronger impact on our judgment. (This is also known as "Charm Pricing")
Precise Pricing: Ending prices in .64 or .17, instead of .95 or .99 has an additional benefit beyond the left-digit effect. By creating a sense of precision, you suggest that the price has been calculated with careful consideration, and is therefore more credible.
Decoy Pricing: Given the left-digit effect, why do you think the “Essentials” plan is £10.17 instead of £9.86? They intentionally make it seem more expensive, because it’s a decoy. By setting the price of “Essentials” artificially high, they make “Standard” look like a bargain by comparison. (This is also known as a "low anchor," and it was famously pioneered by the Economist magazine.)
Simple Next Step These are just gimmicks, none of them will fundamentally transform your business. But employing even one of these tactics could have an immediate impact on your bottom line, and that would easily cover the cost of my newsletter. Oh wait, the newsletter doesn’t cost anything. 🤷♂️