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7

by Mercusio
6 replies
$7, $47, $97, $147

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I can't find it through search:

What is up with the number 7? I sell a few products, but they don't end in 7. Is 7 the magic number that makes people think they're getting it for a good price?

ie. "Oh boy, It's $47.00, thats far better than $50.00" or.. "47.00 thats almost the same as $40.00!"

OR

Is there some kind of financial advantage to using 7?

ie. "Fee Scales charging different % cut for different price tiers."

OR

Did some famous IM'r use it first, hit it big and it become the norm?

ie. "Joe Doe made 7 figures selling his product for $77.00 so I will too!"

Kind of a nonsensical question, but as most things in life that are on sale usually look like: $14.99, $19.99, $99.99 or even $199.99 I wonder why WSO's and CB products and others are all $17, $47, $77, $97, $197, etc.

Thanks
  • Profile picture of the author WebPen
    There are a few well-known advertising books out there- paperback, not just ebooks- that have case studies where prices with the number 7 outperformed other price points

    That said... it doesn't hurt to test. Some warriors on here use different numbers for WSOs, like $9.95 or $5
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Originally Posted by Mercusio View Post

    What is up with the number 7?
    (TL;DR version: I think the end-in-7 rule is bullsquat.)

    The theory goes that your emotional brain thinks in fives and your rational brain thinks in tens.

    The sales copy agitates you emotionally to make sure that side of your brain gets to process the number first.

    Since 7 is closer to 5 than 10, it gets rounded down to 5 before your rational brain gets hold of it.

    Your rational brain, contrary to the usual mathematical teachings, rounds a 5 down to 0 instead of up to 10.

    So it makes the buy decision as though a $47 product were a $40 product.

    Having messed around with this and tested it, I do not believe this theory is meaningful.

    First, I don't think anyone knows the theory in the first place, and they just use 7 because everyone uses 7.

    Second, I am simply unable to find a statistically significant difference in the performance of prices between ending in a 7 and ending in an 8. According to the theory, $47 should convert better than $48 because it's a mental comparison of $40 to $50. I did not find any significant difference.

    Meanwhile, $44 should convert basically the same as $47 because they're both comparisons to $40. This is not true. Instead, $44 converts slightly better than $47.

    I did, however, find that $45 converts basically the same as $47, while $44 converts slightly better than $45.

    Now, according to the theory, I should see this:

    $47 better than $48, because $40 < $50
    $45 same as $47, because $40 = $40
    $44 same as $45, because $40 = $40

    Instead, I found this:

    $47 same as $48 (posit $50 = $50)
    $45 same as $47 (posit $50 = $50)
    $44 better than $45 (posit $40 < $50)

    This suggests to me that we are in fact rounding to tens, not fives - and fives are rounded up just like they taught us in math class.

    But I'm just one guy and that's just one test and I didn't exactly drive a buttload of traffic and your mileage may vary.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mercusio
      Originally Posted by CDarklock View Post

      (TL;DR version: I think the end-in-7 rule is bullsquat.)

      The theory goes that your emotional brain thinks in fives and your rational brain thinks in tens.

      The sales copy agitates you emotionally to make sure that side of your brain gets to process the number first.

      Since 7 is closer to 5 than 10, it gets rounded down to 5 before your rational brain gets hold of it.

      Your rational brain, contrary to the usual mathematical teachings, rounds a 5 down to 0 instead of up to 10.

      So it makes the buy decision as though a $47 product were a $40 product.

      Having messed around with this and tested it, I do not believe this theory is meaningful.

      First, I don't think anyone knows the theory in the first place, and they just use 7 because everyone uses 7.

      Second, I am simply unable to find a statistically significant difference in the performance of prices between ending in a 7 and ending in an 8. According to the theory, $47 should convert better than $48 because it's a mental comparison of $40 to $50. I did not find any significant difference.

      Meanwhile, $44 should convert basically the same as $47 because they're both comparisons to $40. This is not true. Instead, $44 converts slightly better than $47.

      I did, however, find that $45 converts basically the same as $47, while $44 converts slightly better than $45.

      Now, according to the theory, I should see this:

      $47 better than $48, because $40 < $50
      $45 same as $47, because $40 = $40
      $44 same as $45, because $40 = $40

      Instead, I found this:

      $47 same as $48 (posit $50 = $50)
      $45 same as $47 (posit $50 = $50)
      $44 better than $45 (posit $40 < $50)

      This suggests to me that we are in fact rounding to tens, not fives - and fives are rounded up just like they taught us in math class.

      But I'm just one guy and that's just one test and I didn't exactly drive a buttload of traffic and your mileage may vary.

      That was probably one of the best replies to any question I've seen all day and was exactly the kind of logic I was looking for. Thanks for sharing your results!
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    • Profile picture of the author athenistic
      Originally Posted by CDarklock View Post

      (TL;DR version: I think the end-in-7 rule is bullsquat.)
      Very nice answer!

      My personal experience as a buyer is that when I see a $7, $47, etc price tag, alarm bells start going off.

      I'm much less likely to buy a product because if a content producer buys into that pricing theory, it makes me wonder if they're more interested in providing me with valuable information or more concerned about their conversion rate.

      Just some food for thought.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mitsakis
      It may have some minimal effect like +1% in sales or something but the main reason everyone user 7 just because everyone else uses it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Samrath Gupta
    Hey Man this is quite a nice question !!
    I also dont know why people use this 7 at their price's but i didn't went into it just used it...

    Beleive it or not my B'day is also on 7th and on the 7th month(July)
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