Sell the feeling, not just the product, to increase perceived value

Executive overview

Most products compete on features and price. Perceived value can be increased without changing the product or its cost.

Attaching a feeling to a product — using words — changes what buyers think it's worth. A jeans tag reading "your new favorite pair of jeans" shifts the mental price anchor from the retail cost to the emotional payoff.

Words are free. Placing the right ones next to the price is all it takes.

Associate a feeling with your product at the point of sale and you can double perceived value at zero cost.

Adding perceived value with words

• Identify how your product makes people feel — peace, confidence, nostalgia, reduced anxiety.
• Translate that feeling into a short, specific phrase.
• Place the phrase where buyers see it at the point of decision — next to the price, on the tag, on the shelf.
• The words do the work; no change to the product or its cost is required.