Display Immediate Prices in Large Fonts

Font size can influence prices.

In the past, I've suggested that prices feel cheaper in smaller fonts: Hmm, something about this price feels small. Must be cheap (Dehaene, 1992; Coulter & Coulter, 2005).

And I've seen A/B tests confirm this idea.

However, small fonts are difficult to implement in real-world settings because they degrade the user experience: It can feel like you're hiding these prices.

Even though large fonts can feel expensive, they can still work if you show an MSRP. In fact, a price can feel enticing when it's visually larger than an MSRP because this visual difference feels like a numerical difference: Hmm, this sale price feels different. Must be a great deal.

But what if you show a single price? Well, large fonts can also work for immediate decisions.

Zoomed-in images convert better for immediate decisions because customers imagine these decisions with a closer proximity — as if they are physically closer (Ho et al., 2024).

Same with font sizes: Large fonts might convert better for immediate decisions because customers feel closer to these stimuli.

Use Big Fonts For

• Immediate Decisions. A typical SaaS plan.
• Urgent Appeals. Deal that expires in 24 hours.

Use Small Fonts For

• Luxury. Luxury brands are appealing because they feel distant and unattainable. Interestingly, customers preferred luxury items when standing further away from them (Chu et al., 2021).
• Price Sensitive Customers. Large fonts convey a good product, while small fonts convey a good deal (Aggarwal & Vaidyanathan, 2016)

Caveats

• More Research is Needed. In a pilot study, I found that respondents indicated they would buy a camera sooner if they saw a visually larger price and button. The difference was approaching significance, but not fully significant. Perhaps it's stronger with a more realistic purchase.

• Aggarwal, P., & Vaidyanathan, R. (2016). Is font size a big deal? A transaction–acquisition utility perspective on comparative price promotions. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 33(6), 408-416.
• Aleotti, S., Di Girolamo, F., Massaccesi, S., & Priftis, K. (2020). Numbers around Descartes: A preregistered study on the three-dimensional SNARC effect. Cognition, 195, 104111.
• Bhattacharyya, A., Jha, S., Guha, A., & Biswas, A. (2023). Should firms display the sale price using larger font?. Journal of Retailing, 99(1), 17-25.
• Chu, X. Y., Chang, C. T., & Lee, A. Y. (2021). Values created from far and near: Influence of spatial distance on brand evaluation. Journal of Marketing, 85(6), 162-175.
• Coulter, K. S., & Coulter, R. A. (2005). Size does matter: The effects of magnitude representation congruency on price perceptions and purchase likelihood. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(1), 64-76.
• Dehaene, S. (1992). Varieties of numerical abilities. Cognition, 44(1-2), 1-42.
• Ho, C. K., Kuan, K., Liang, S., & Ke, W. (2024). Effects of temporal features and product image zooming in online time scarcity deals: A construal fit account. Information & Management, 61(7), 104019.