There’s a blog called NeuroscienceMarketing. Don’t know if you read it, but every now and then they got some great insights on marketing. The other day Roger Dooley posted a short piece the other day called ‘Offer a third choice, boost sales’ that made me notice his first post ‘Decoy Marketing’.
Decoy marketing is about the fact that a brand tend to get better result if you offer your target group three choices instead of two. Roger gives you lots of examples. One of the better one is from a test with subscriptions to the magazine The Economist. In the example two groups of subjects were given the option to choose a subscription. One group was offered two choices. The other one three.
Offer A:
$59 – Internet Only Subscription (68 chose)
$125 – Internet and Print Subscription (32 chose)
Predicted Revenue – $8,012
Offer B:
$59 – Internet Only Subscription (16 chose)
$125 – Print Only Subscription (0 chose)
$125 – Internet and Print Subscription (84 chose)
Predicted Revenue – $11,444
Conclusion – The predicted revenue jumped 43% due to the introduction of a third choice.
Something to think about for you brand owners out there.