choices whether we’re deciding what to
have a breakfast or if you just spend
time with it usually seems to be such a
privilege to be able to choose from a
variety of different decisions
isn’t it nice time an array of options
and to choose the one that’s most
appealing perhaps the one that’s the
most economical the one that benefits
you the most well what if I told you
that these other options could result in
cognitive biases coming into play and
can actually hinder you from making a
well informed decision and what if I
told you that these other options appear
in your daily lives the decoy effect is
a cognitive bias wherein the superfluous
choice is presented in ordered in in
order to influence someone’s decision or
in this case it’d be the buyers decision
also known as the asymmetric dominance
effect this marketing tactic places a
strategically priced decoy in order to
compel buyers to upsell it’s an easy
wipe weight to hide over priceless
unappealing choices with a decoy now the
reason why it works is at its core it’s
the decoy effect is a phenomenon where
instead of choosing and self-interest we
choose over what values certain things
have a situation where there’s no price
attached let’s say there’s an alcohol
and there’s a pair some of you may
choose one other may choose the latter I
personally prefer pears but wouldn’t it
be strange if there were to be a
pineapple introduced and if I were to
switch back to the Apple although this
seems absolutely ridiculous it doesn’t
seem to make any sense whatsoever you
can see how this circumstance could come
into play if we would have prices
attached
let me give you a few Excel
say you got a text message and it’s from
a phone company and they’re talking
about simply both planets and minima
they’ll offer you three different
choices I have a quick example here on
the board and – I’m guessing right now
that a lot of you are calculating the
rates in your head so I’ll just simplify
it for you for the economy packet each
of gigabyte is worth fifty Terry’s for
the deluxe package each is worth thirty
turns and finally for the premium
package each gigabyte is with twenty
jerks now I’ve said it now what I’m
sending it up in this way the premium
package looks really appealing but at
least for me as a student I’m not going
to use two gigabytes of data per month
outside of school really perhaps me
maybe you adults too but you could see
this similar situation happening with
slightly higher storage offers um the
thing is is that this this is the decoy
effect that is being in play the middle
on the deluxe package is the decoy
because it is priced slightly closer to
the more expensive choice yet it again
it offers double the amount of storage
the only purpose the only reason why
it’s there is just to make the premium
package more appealing have the deluxe
package not bender maybe you’re choosing
from option A or B perhaps you might
have considered maybe I shouldn’t be
spending so much money you know I don’t
really need all this extra data but the
fact that the deluxe is there it’s just
it’s done all it does is just to make
the premium package look better now
let’s say after this text message you
get a little hungry and you decide to
stop by at the fast food store these are
the options without notice right away is
the price of the burger the soda and the
fries just by themselves individually if
you were to add them up all together
it’s significantly more than the meal
so you came in maybe a little hungry
just wanting a cheeseburger but you
might as well get some soda surprise
better deal right this is what your
cognitive biases are telling you that
you’re getting a better deal because you
add current yourselves to the soft drink
at the fries price a soft drink is worth
a chirps you think the price is worth 90
runs in reality if we just have any fast
food store that just sold those two
items individually by themselves thank
God a business they’re extremely
overpriced just to make a meal look more
appealing and this is what they’ve won
think they got you to walk out of the
store not just with a burger but a
burger soda and fries and the
satisfaction of knowing you made the
right choice
and although this 7 Durham may not seem
like much considering if we were had to
have like a lot of people coming in on a
daily basis it can add up to gargantuan
profits now what do you want to be a
little strangest whilst I was doing
research for the decoy effect was I was
just looking online there doesn’t seem
to be so much coverage on it for
something that’s used so often in our
daily lives something that is constantly
used in advertising we don’t even give
it a name sometimes we just do it
instinctively when I was looking up some
articles the ones I found were the decoy
effect and how to make more sales or how
to help buyers choose the right choice
well if I think that companies are going
to manipulate us a toy with our
cognitive biases in order to make us up
some I find it to be a useful exercise
to recognize that there are decoys and
play to identify them and with this
newfound information perhaps we could
make a better decision so I’ll leave you
with this in your life next time you
make a purchase next time you buy
something where else could you spot
other decoys and perhaps where could you
use decoys to your advantage thank you