Have you ever bought something and later wondered why you ended up spending more money than you planned? Major corporations often use behavioral design and psychological tricks to influence our choices.
Recently, my wife and I were looking to invest in a new car. The choice fell on a Citroën e-C5 Aircross. We had thoroughly researched everything and knew exactly which model met our needs. Yet, we ended up in a sales situation that was equal parts fascinating and frustrating to watch through my marketing lens.
The salesman tried hard to upgrade us to the most expensive trim level, the VTR Sport. We politely declined and explained that we didn’t need the extra equipment. But the salesman didn’t stop there – he turned his computer screen and showed us an overview of the cars that were currently on their way to Denmark.
Surprisingly, they were all VTR Sport models.
The message was clear: “If you choose the large equipment model, you only have to wait a month. And it doesn’t cost much extra to upgrade…”
However, I was raised with a good commoon sense principle of never buying more than I actually need. Therefore, we stuck to our decision and chose the cheaper model, even though it meant a slightly longer delivery time.
Manipulative Sales Techniques
I didn’t really think more about the experience until a colleague shortly after told me about a virtually identical situation at another dealership and a completely different car brand. It made me reflect on the experience again. It wasn’t a coincidence. It was a classic example of behavioral design – and potentially what we in marketing call Dark Patterns (manipulative design).
Here are the psychological tricks the car industry uses against us, and how you can apply these mechanisms (ethically) in your own local business or association.
1. Availability Bias: The Artificial Urgency
By showing us the ship’s cargo list, the salesman played on our impatience. When the brain sees that the solution (VTR Sport) is right within reach, the shorter delivery time exploits our availability bias to make us overlook our original, rational budget.
How to use it ethically:
Do not invent false deadlines to create upsells, but do highlight what you can deliver right here and now. Does your trade business have an opening in the calendar next week? Make it clear on your website or social media: “We have an opening in our schedule – book it now and skip the queue.” Make it easy and attractive to choose the solution that benefits both of you.
2. Social Proof: The Herd Mentality
When the salesman displays a screen where “all the cars on the way are the large model,” it plants a seed of doubt. “Am I doing something wrong since everyone else is buying the expensive model?” Here, the salesman utilizes social proof – we seek reassurance by looking at the “herd” to assess whether our own decision is right.
How to use it ethically:
Show what others have chosen to guide uncertain customers. If you run an association with multiple membership types, mark the most popular choice clearly. Write “Our most popular solution” next to the membership that makes the most sense for the majority. This creates reassurance for the customer without misleading them.
3. The Decoy Effect: The Ugly Standard Choice
In my research for the car purchase, I noticed an absurd trend. Virtually all car brands offer a “free”
standard color, but it is deliberately chosen to be particularly striking or unconventional – or perhaps even
ugly.
- Citroën e-C5 Aircross / Renault Scenic E-Tech Electric: Red
- Fiat Panda: Neon Yellow
- Opel Grandland Electric / Peugeot 5008: Light Blue-Green
Want a more traditional black, white, or gray car? Then it costs extra. Or even better for the dealership: You have to upgrade to the large equipment package, where the choice is included for free. Here, car manufacturers use a form of the decoy effect, where a deliberately unattractive standard choice is used to push you toward the more expensive option.
How to use it ethically:
Think about how you package your services. You shouldn’t punish your customers with a bad standard product, but you can advantageously set up three options. Many small businesses only have one price. By offering a Basic, Premium, and VIP package, you will find that most people automatically gravitate toward the middle (Premium) because the extremes put the price into perspective.
4. Feature Bundling: When Your Favorite Features Are Taken Hostage
It’s not that car manufacturers refuse to give you useful features. On the contrary. They are just masters of a discipline we in marketing call Feature Bundling – packaging services together. They know exactly which features we all long for, and then they lock them down together with “flashy” gear we otherwise would never have opened our wallets for.
When I looked at the equipment levels, a clear pattern emerged of how they constantly lured us with something indispensable but forced us to pay for the “bling.”
For the e-C5 Aircross, it looked something like this:
- You! (Base Model): Completely stripped. You get a steering wheel and four wheels.
- Plus: Here you finally get the incredibly useful 180-degree reversing camera. But to get it, you must also pay for “keyless entry” – a flashy feature that is fun for the first two days, but which few would pay extra for separately.
- Max: Here they lure you with the fantastic Highway Driver Assist, which makes highway driving a breeze. The price? You are forced to pay for an upgrade of the reversing camera to “Top-Rear-View,” which you don’t really need since you already have the Plus package.
- VTR Sport: Want the ultimate 360-degree camera for tight parking spaces? Fine! But then you also have to pay a fortune for an electric tailgate and huge 20″ rims, which just make your future tire changes significantly more expensive.
In other words, they take your rational needs hostage and pair them with an irrational “nice-to-have.” In this way, the dealer can justify a price jump of DKK 20,000 for the next equipment tier, even if it was only the reversing camera you were actually interested in.
How to use it ethically:
You should, of course, not force your customers to buy useless junk. But as a local business or association, you can learn a lot from packaging your services wisely.
If you sell a service – for example, cleaning, accounting, or sponsorships in the local football club – divide it into packages:
- The Basic package should contain exactly what covers the customer’s core needs.
- The Premium package should contain the core need plus something that provides high perceived value for the customer but doesn’t cost you a fortune to deliver. This could be extended support, a quarterly call, faster delivery, or a premium car wash after service.
When you bundle a strong basic service with a bit of nice “convenience,” you make it easy for the customer to choose the slightly more expensive solution – without them feeling cheated.
Use Behavioral Design to Help – Not to Cheat
As a local business or association, you survive on trust and long-term relationships. Therefore, you must stay far away from manipulative Dark Design. But by understanding why customers make certain choices, you can remove buying barriers and make it easier for them to choose you.
Questions and Answers (FAQ)
Behavioral design is about arranging choices and communication in a way that takes human psychology into account. It makes it easier for the customer to make a decision, e.g., by highlighting the most popular solution or simplifying the buying process.
Good behavioral design guides the customer to a choice that creates value for both parties. Dark Patterns (or manipulative design) deliberately mislead the customer into taking actions they otherwise wouldn’t have done – for example, paying for a more expensive product through hidden fees or false time pressure.
Small businesses can use Social Proof by collecting and displaying customer reviews, sharing case studies, or simply marking which service is most frequently chosen by other customers. This creates reassurance for new customers that others have had a good experience.
Feature Bundling is a pricing and product strategy where a company gathers several features or products into a single package. Often, a highly demanded feature (“need-to-have”) is combined with less necessary features (“nice-to-have”). This is done to increase the product’s overall price and encourage the customer
to buy a more expensive tier than they originally planned.
