By benchmarking pricing against the high cost of human tutors ($10k/year), Brilliant.org's $30/month subscription feels like a bargain. This value-based pricing anchors the product as a premium alternative, not just another app, leading customers to ask why it's so cheap.

Instead of showing a monthly subscription price like '$55 a month', frame it as a daily cost, such as 'less than $2 a day'. This psychological trick, or 'girl math', makes the price feel more manageable and easier for customers to justify, comparing it to a small daily expense like a cup of coffee.

Offering a defined price range (e.g., '$149-$299') instead of an open-ended 'pick your price' model leverages social pressure. Most customers will pay more than the minimum to avoid appearing cheap, anchoring the average transaction value significantly higher.

Consumers find prices more appealing when broken down into smaller increments, like a daily cost versus an annual fee. This 'pennies-a-day effect' can make the same price seem like a much better value because people struggle to abstract small, concrete costs into a larger total.

Immediately after a user purchases short-term access, they are automatically enrolled in a daily newsletter. This critical step shifts the relationship from transactional to habitual, nurturing the user towards a full subscription by demonstrating daily value.

The Economist offered three options, pricing the 'print-only' version the same as 'print + digital.' This 'print-only' option acted as a decoy, making the combined package seem like a bargain with a 'free' digital add-on, dramatically shifting purchases to the higher-priced tier.

Your product might feel expensive in a vacuum. To combat this, introduce a VIP or high-end option priced 3-5x higher than your main offering. This use of price anchoring makes the standard option appear much more reasonable and approachable by comparison, similar to how a $200 steak makes a $30 steak look like a bargain.

By introducing a third, strategically priced but less appealing option (the "decoy"), you can manipulate how customers perceive value. A medium popcorn priced close to the large makes the large seem like a much better deal. This proves that value is relative and can be shaped by deliberate choice architecture.

Adding a third, less attractive 'decoy' option to a choice set can dramatically shift consumer preference towards a higher-priced target option by making it seem superior by comparison. This choice architecture trick can significantly boost revenue even if the decoy itself is never chosen.