Search costs and price sensitivity
What is easy to search on becomes what people choose on: easy quality information lowers price sensitivity, easy price comparison raises it.
Three of the eight page areas.
Three ways to use it, and one to avoid.
- Make quality and differentiating attributes as easy to see, sort and filter as price.
- Put ratings, specs and guarantees on the tile.
- Expect price-led choice if price is the only sortable dimension.
- Avoid: making price hard to find or compare, which is a dark pattern.
Easy quality search lowered price sensitivity; easy price comparison raised it.
In a wine experiment, easier quality search lowered price sensitivity for differentiated products and raised satisfaction.
In Lynch and Ariely's online wine shops, where participants spent their own money, easier quality search lowered price sensitivity and raised satisfaction, while easy comparison across stores raised it for wines both stores sold. Diehl and colleagues found a quality-ranking tool raised price sensitivity because the top options were similar. Real price-comparison data showed very high price sensitivity.
Three sources, each checked.
Last reviewed
The research favours transparency. Making price hard to find or compare is a dark pattern.
This is simply a pointer to check, not legal advice. Seek legal advice before you put this principle into action.