
Vowel Sounds Influence Consumers’ Perception of Prices - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/business/18drill.html?ref=business
======
NathanKP
I found another interesting scientific article which goes into more detail:

[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070912130815.ht...](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070912130815.htm)

It suggests that the same effect can also be used with great success in brand
names, not just prices.

~~~
fh
This would be a much stronger finding if they had found any correlation
between vowel sounds and the success/failure of _actual_ brands, not just the
perceived appeal of fantasy brand names. Does the fate of a brand really
depend on what people think in the first five seconds after they hear the name
without context? This is the same kind of thinking that makes Microsoft spend
millions on compelling one-word domain names like Live or Bing, which haven't
been hugely successful. In my opinion, brands are built through trust and
reputation, and in comparison to that, any effect of vowel sounds is a
rounding error.

~~~
NathanKP
You are probably right. There don't seem to be too many studies on this, and I
totally agree that I would like to see a study based on real brand names. I
just linked to the one study that I could find.

------
z8000
I think I am missing something here. People are told the initial price and a
few minutes later the sale price and are asked to _estimate_ the savings as a
percentage of the original? Are we this horribly bad at basic fourth grade
math?

~~~
olegk
How would you do this correctly without a calculator?

You basically need to do a calculation like this in your head:

100*(3 - 2.33)/3 ≈ 22.33%

~~~
z8000
Such a calculation _should be_ something anyone on Earth over the age of 6 (OK
I said 4th grade so 8-9) should be able to handle in their head without being
handheld by a handheld [calculator].

~~~
cdr
Gee, you're really realistic.

When I went out to dinner with my parents, none of the ten people over age 30
could calculate a 20% tip - much less the other way around.

Most people just do not do math outside the presence of a calculator, so those
skills fade.

~~~
z8000
Yes, and that is an example of what I find to be sad. Also, I did try to
emphasize "_should be_" in my comment. It is not realistic, it is what I
personally consider to be "better" (basic math skills over reliance on a
calculator).

Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself but it seems like a slippery slope to rely
on a calculator for (subjectively) simple calculations. It leads to a "oh,
someone else will figure this out for me" mentality.

------
gojomo
The researchers suggest "88" sounds "larger" in english. However, Wal-Mart
often prefers prices ending in ".88" as a contrast to ".99" pricing, and an
image of "low prices" is crucial to them. If this effect was exploitable, I'd
expect Wal-Mart would be using it.

~~~
icey
I wonder if verbalizing the number makes a difference - the article mentioned
that they asked the test subjects to "repeat the sale price to themselves"
instead of just looking at the price. (Even if they repeated it to themselves
without saying the numbers out loud, it uses the same part of the brain.)

