Ready to boost your sales? Price formatting can help – and here’s how

Fig 1: Pricing doesn't have to be an art.

If you do it right, the way you format prices on your online store can increase your sales. At EcomPricer.com, the world’s most powerful AI-driven pricing platform, we recommend that all of our clients implement these changes to increase profit on top of the extra profit our service earns them. 

Research has shown that details such as the size of the price, the font of the price, and the color of the price on your e-commerce site are extremely important. 

Why? They can increase trust and purchase intent of users – while also lessening the negative effects of offering small discounts. 

Sound complicated? Don’t worry – we’ve got you covered in this guide outlining some of the most effective strategies.

Let’s jump in!

When it comes to price, size matters

When we talk about price size, we mean the increase of the size of the sale price relative to the regular price. For example: original price in 16pt font and sale price in a 28pt font. 

Increasing the font size of the sale price increases the probability that a customer will buy a product. This occurs across all levels of discount, but particularly when discounts are either very high (over 50%), or very low (under 20%). 

Data science and marketing experts have shown that a more prominent sales price compared to the original price impacts how the consumer processes price discount information, and thus increases their evaluations. It makes it more difficult for the consumer to subconsciously calculate the discount percentage, which mitigates the negative aspects of using small or large price discounts. 

When it comes to font, variety is key

When considering price font, you want to make the originally listed price harder to read than your sale price. Doing so will increase purchase likelihood, especially among price-conscious consumers and consumers who aren’t particularly interested in the product. 

But how does this happen? According to research, disruptive fonts can cause consumers to devote more cognitive resources to process what they’re reading, and they will therefore be more likely to recall these disruptive price displays when forming their future price expectations. 

Basically, the more difficult-to-read text causes the customer to better remember the higher original price, which they then use as a baseline. When they read the sale price, they are more likely to recognize the discount as genuine savings. Consumers will be much more inclined to buy your product if they feel like they’re getting a good deal on it.  

Cool it on the different colors

Buckle up, because this last strategy may seem a little counterintuitive. But research shows that consumers are less likely to make a purchase when the color of the original price is different than the color of the sale price. Inconsistent color presentation also makes consumers perceive the product as having lower value.

Here’s an example. Say the original price is in black and the sale price is in red. That decreases purchase likelihood for all but the most loyal customers of large retailers, which is detrimental to sales. This happens because different sale price colors decrease consumer trust, which decreases purchase intent. It can make the customer feel as if they are being fooled, and they are less likely to buy readily if they feel this. 

Next steps on optimizing your pricing

As a lot of research has shown, price formatting can play an essential role in driving the sales on your e-commerce site. Although it may seem minor, paying close attention to these small details and making the changes we have suggested will increase the purchase intent of consumers, and ultimately make your business more successful. 

Keep in mind that the changes you make to the price font, color, and size need to be consistent with the general aesthetic of your e-commerce site! For instance, if you run a very minimalist subscription service, you should consider using an italicized serif version of your usual font for the sale price – rather than say, comic sans or papyrus, as it would look extremely out of place. 

Implementing these changes while using our service will only increase your profit even more. EcomPricer.com generates, on average, an 11% profit increase for our clients and guarantees a 200% return on investment. We use AI to increase profit by serving discounts only to customers who need it and leverage our massive data-sets to predict what users will buy and at what prices. 

The best part: EcomPricer.com only charges you when we increase your profits, so we only earn money after we’ve helped you more! Implementing these changes and using a service that deals with real data to optimize your prices will increase your profits and lead your e-commerce site down the road of success.

Ready to try out EcomPricer.com for a spin? Visit our website to learn more, or to schedule a meeting with one of our pricing experts.