Fred Abaroa

Numbers are cool. They way we perceive numbers is even better. When I worked on FamilyFun Magazines Toy of The Year Contest for Walt Disney Publishing I used to love to see how big I could make the numbers. Here is an example of what I mean. The writers could either say "The toys were tested for 3 days by children all over the US" or "Over 4800 hours were spent testing the toys". Which were you more impressed by? It is an easy calculation. We had 20 centers who tested for 3 days with at least 20 children around 4 hours per day. The same is true for pricing. What sounds less expensive, don't judge by the numbers but by the way you feel, 9.99 or 9.97? Research shows that we perceive 9.97 to be way less than 9.99 even though it is just 2 cents. That is why Wal-Mart .97 in most of their pricing. Taking this a step farther there is something magical about the number 7. I am sorry to say I cannot quote the research on this one but 79.99 is perceived lower than 69.99, 107.99 is lower than 99.99. Try it yourself sometime. It is bizarre and as far as I can find there is no public research on it, but it really works.

So the next time you are writing or pricing think about the numbers you use or call The Marketing Imagineer.

Fred Abaroa aka “CostaVidaFred”
The Marketing Imagineer

Twitter: @CostaVidaFred
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