Framing effect
The same information leads to different choices depending on how it is presented.
Four of the eight page areas.
Four ways to use it, and one to avoid.
- State attributes in the positive form, such as “95% recycled” rather than “5% virgin plastic”.
- Choose deliberately between “save £20” and “now £80”.
- Test the wording, because the effect is small to moderate.
- Expect the effect to shrink once shoppers have direct experience of the product.
- Avoid: savings or “was” prices that don’t rest on a genuine, established usual selling price, as CAP Code rule 3.39 and CTSI pricing guidance require.
Gain and loss framing is reliable but small to moderate, and varies with study design.
Across 136 papers, gain and loss framing of risky choices was reliable but small to moderate.
A meta-analysis of 136 papers (nearly 30,000 people) found gain and loss framing of risky choices is reliable but small to moderate, and varies with study design. A meta-analysis of 107 articles on attribute framing found frames worked best when how concrete or abstract they were matched how near or distant the event felt, not simply when they were positive. In Many Labs, a 36-sample replication with over 6,000 people, gain and loss framing held at about half its original size.
Five sources, each checked.
Last reviewed
Savings and 'was' prices must rest on a genuine, established usual selling price (CAP Code rule 3.39 and CTSI pricing guidance). A positive frame must not hide information the shopper needs.
This is simply a pointer to check, not legal advice. Seek legal advice before you put this principle into action.