Pricing psychology & negotiation · strategy atlas
Decoy effect
what it means
Adding a third option that's deliberately inferior to one of the other two — not to be bought, but to make that other option look like the obviously smarter choice by comparison.
a real example
A pricing page with small, medium, and large tiers where the medium is priced only slightly below the large is a classic decoy — it exists to push buyers toward the large, which becomes the obvious better deal next to it.
when to use it
When you have a genuine preferred tier you want most customers to choose, and adding a deliberately weaker comparison point can make that choice feel obvious rather than pushed.
when it backfires
A decoy that's too obviously pointless (nobody would ever choose it) can make the whole pricing structure feel manipulative once a customer notices the pattern.