By not being able to openly denigrate what another brand produces (the law prohibits it), it relies on unconscious mechanisms to privilege its own to the detriment of another, properly “orienting” the consumer.
Often without him realizing it. Let's see in detail one of those marketing tools of this type called “effect lure" or in English, " decoy effect " (with lure properly speaking “false target” or, precisely, “decoy”).
What is Link Baiting?
The most adequate and rigorous definition of Link Baiting It is “that which induces variations in individual preferences between two choice possibilities, when a third is introduced, which was not present before.”
This additional option, to have a “bait effect”, must have characteristics such as being, as they say, “asymmetrically dominant”.
The concept of «asymmetrical dominance«, a marketing jargon term that should however be called «anisoprodinamico» = «promoting unevenly», indicates a specific action.
That is, highlighting, among three or more options, excluding the third, one of the remaining two more than the other, without “symmetry” between them.
How it affects the psyche of consumers
The main objective of those who use the bait effect, in the context of marketing campaigns, is not to guide the individual consumer towards his own products, but to keep them away from those of other competing producers. Producers operating in the same market segment, of course.
By distancing consumers and preventing them from purchasing the products of competing companies, you will indirectly have the effect of turning their attention to ours. So, even without promoting them directly, in the end the result will be that. Only, reached from the sides.
Marketing of the Tinder effect, history and practical examples
The first known description of the decoy effect dates back to 1981. Three academics, namely: Joel Huber, John Payne and Christopher Puto, in an academic paper jointly presented at an economics conference, then republished in a journal the following year.
Conducted in the form of a study with carefully selected participants, their experiment disproved previous theories of "similarity heuristics" Y "regularity conditional«. They claimed that a new product would distract consumers from choosing the original and therefore cause economic damage to the company that put it on the market. So no advantages over competing products.
Examples of Link Baiting
To understand the mechanism in detail, we will do some practical examples.
Let's imagine a situation where, initially, only two products are offered at two different prices. The products are of the same type (for example, a tablet) but in different configurations and with more or fewer accessories supplied with the main product.
We mark these two business proposals with A and B.
- A – 900 watt vacuum cleaner sold for 89 euros (without accessories)
- B – 1200 watt vacuum cleaner + accessory bag + complete set of nozzles of various sizes and lengths, sold for 149 euros
In such a scenario, consumers' choice would preferably be directed towards the proposal with the best price-quality ratio. However, it is not so immediate to realize
that proposal B is the one with the best ratio.
In fact, B offers 35% more power, in addition to several included accessories, all for a price of 67% more. Not a little then. Sure, it offers a complete set of accessories, but what is the real value of the latter, would they justify the higher expense compared to proposal A?
We now present a third proposal C
- C – 1000 watt vacuum cleaner, complete with two additional suction nozzles, sold for 129 euros.
At this point the consumer thinks that, with only 20 euros more, they can take home a more powerful vacuum cleaner (1200 watts versus 1000) and with several more accessories included in the price, plus the bag to store them.
So now the best proposition has become, in the eyes of the consumer, definitely B. And here we have just seen the decoy effect at work, effectively.
The same technique is continually used for example in cinemas to sell popcorn or even in Starbucks , McDonald's etc., etc.
See this example: There are two sizes of popcorn sold in movie theaters.
At this point, almost all consumers will switch to the 3 euro format because they will see the price of 7 euros as very far away.
Link Baiting Price
The price is the hinge on which link baiting rotates and for which this technique is used. It serves, in fact, to unknowingly incite consumers to spend more than they would normally have been induced to do on that occasion, if they did not intervene to change their propensity to spend.
