Four times this week I had the opportunity to experience marketing's sleight of hand when it comes to using numbers to create value or alter a prospect's perception of the price. We will not get into a discussion as to whether this practice is ethical or deceptive. We'll just look at how they're used and are they effective in generating sales.
The first one came to me courtesy of the Lotto Corporation. They like to use a commercial where the Grand Prize amount is written across the front of a huge dam. Normally this commercial only comes out when the prize has been building for awhile. Typically the figures range from 9 million to 35 million. The bigger the prize the more tickets are sold. Obviously the size of the number has impact on sales. It made me laugh when I saw the current commercial where they had a grand prize of 3.5 million. Apparently they were concerned that this small of a prize would be a drawback (not sure when 3.5 million became chump-change) and decided to change the format. The numbers were changed to read ,500,000. Thus filling the screen with the grand prize total.
The second one was commercial for a Honda Civic played on a local radio station. The announcer comes on telling us we can have the opportunity to finally drive our very own Honda Civic for as little as 6 every two weeks. It just happened that I was driving past one their competitor's car lots at the same time and they were using the same strategy only the bi-monthly payments were stickered in huge numbers across the sides of the cars.
The third example was result of being in a line-up at the food court at our mall. On the menu board above the fast food burger counter were examples that most of us have come to not see anymore. There were multiple burger choices. The quarter pounder and half pounder among them. Why were those names chosen instead of fun or exotic names? To make you believe you were getting more than you really are. How impressive would it have been to call them the four ouncer or eight ouncer? Does this work? How long has the company kept these names?
My last example came from a service provider. Their industry is very price driven and renown for deceptive practices. They told me that they advertise a very low hourly rate to entice prospects to call. When the caller finds out that they can indeed have that service for that price but it does not come with everything needed they start asking questions. At this point they are easily led through a well thought-out upsell sales process. This business converts 90% of the callers.
The lesson here is that when you need to increase the perceived size of the product or amount then you need to rephrase the number or spell it out if necessary. When you want to reduce potential sticker shock then break the amount down into smaller pieces of the whole.
Good marketing is not altering, misleading or lying. Good marketing is presenting the facts in the most desirable way.
