In marketing, there’s a concept called decoy pricing strategy. It’s meant to make you spend more money than you would otherwise. Let me illustrate with a scenario.
Imagine you’re at a coffee shop and they offer a drink in two sizes: small for $2 and large for $4. You’d almost certainly buy the small size and save two dollars. Right? Marketers know this.
So, to redirect you to the more expensive option, they’ll add a third size. This is a decoy. It’s there to distract you. They’ll add a medium size for $3.50. So the new sizes are small for $2, medium for $3.50, and large for $4. Would it surprise you to know that after this change, most people will buy the large? Marketers don’t even care if they ever sell a single medium size…they just want you to buy the large size. That’s the sole purpose of the third size.
Isn’t that devious? Isn’t that manipulative?
That’s the thing about human beings and comparison. We’re horrible at it. Comparisons give us just enough information to draw the wrong conclusion about a situation. When you compare yourself to other people, you’re going to miss out on the truth.
This happens to me constantly. I have no desire to paint. Absolutely none. But if a friend of mine posts a picture on Facebook of a painting they just finished, suddenly I feel the desire to paint. I need to put color on canvas and create a masterpiece.
I compared myself to someone else. And it distracted me from the truth. I don’t want to paint. I want to write. But the comparison tricked me. It was a decoy to truth.
I encourage you, avoid the comparison game at all costs. It’s tricking you into the wrong conclusions about your life.
You weren’t meant to live like other people. You’re unique. An individual. Be yourself. Not someone else.
I almost always order a small, or bring my own tumbler. But I hadn’t really thought through the actual marketing strategy behind the sizes. Bringing my own tumbler was to help me get what I actually want/needed rather than considering going up a size. How interesting that that is actually a marketing strategy.