In 2009, The Economist magazine ran an online pricing page with three options:
Option A: Web – $59 for a one-year subscription to economist.com, online access only.
Option B: Print – $125 for a one-year subscription to the print edition of The Economist.
Option C: Web & Print – $125 for both a one-year subscription to the print edition and online access to economist.com.
Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics, ran a study that showed that 16% chose Option A, 0% chose Option B, and 84% chose Option C.
When the second option was removed, the outcomes were reversed – 68% chose Option A, and only 32% chose Option C.
The phenomenon is called the Decoy Effect.
The Decoy Effect is a cognitive bias that occurs when people are presented with two options, and one of the options is clearly inferior to the other. The inferior option acts as a decoy, and people are more likely to choose the superior option if it is presented alongside the inferior option.
It’s why movie theaters offer a “Large” popcorn that’s marginally more expensive than a medium — it would be a no-brainer to upgrade. Or a large coffee that’s only $0.10 more than a medium.
SaaS companies sometimes use the decoy effect for pricing plans. You can see this mostly in startups that are still targeting SMBs. Wix has plans that are $16GB “Combo” for 2 GB storage, $22 “Unlimited” for 5GB, $27 “Pro” for 50GB, and $45 “VIP” for 100GB. For $5 extra, you get ten times the storage between Unlimited and Pro. Their business plans are structured similarly.