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The Comma Effect

 

Disciplines > Marketing > Pricing > The Comma Effect

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

 

Description

When writing a large number, commas are often used to make the price easier to read. However, it can also make the price seem more than if no comma is used.

Example

A car salesperson omits commas on the car price stickers, for example showing $3245 rather than £3,245.

A real estate agent omits commas, for example showing $1230000, rather than $1,230,000.

A high-end manufacturer of personal clothing deliberately includes commas to accentuate how 'reassuringly expensive' their clothes are.

Discussion

Commas create breaks in reading, making the price seem to be made of multiple parts. Removing the commas makes the number a single unit.

Commas also make the price a little longer and so make it seem 'bigger'. Removing the comma makes the number physically smaller and so can seem less.

A further effect is that a long number can be confusing and so lead the reader to pay less attention to it (rather than admit they are unsure of the price).

A similar effect happens with decimal points. For example $123 seems less than $123.00, mostly because it is shorter

See also

The Price Length Effect

 

Coulter, K.S., Choi, P. and Monroe, K.B. (2012). Comma N' cents in pricing: The effects of auditory representation encoding on price magnitude perceptions, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22, 3, 395-407

 

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Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

More pages: | Contact | Caveat | About | Students | Webmasters | Awards | Guestbook | Feedback | Sitemap | Changes |

Settings: | Computer layout | Mobile layout | Small font | Medium font | Large font | Translate |

 

 

Please help and share:

 

Quick links

Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

+ Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

– About
– Guest Articles
– Blog!
– Books
– Changes
– Contact
– Guestbook
– Quotes
– Students
– Webmasters

 

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