Woah, this has been a while.

Though I do have an excuse. In fact, I have 2. Work, and Cornwall, where I just spent a week and a half. Cornwall is possibly the most beautiful place on Earth, and I don’t say that just because I grew up there.

Well, maybe because I grew up there. My memories are full of Calvin-and-Hobbes summers, and that definitely colours my perception.

Cornwall itself was brilliant – I chased many birds and almost killed myself trying to bike up the hills. But as you probably won’t want to hear about all the oystercatchers, turnstones and peregrine falcons I saw, let me talk about perception a bit instead.

We all think we go through life assessing details and coming to our own conclusions. And in a way, we do, but the way we assess and the details we come to are clouded by what we’ve experienced and been told in the past.

That’s why perceived value works. If you see a nice jacket on sale for £400, then one day you walk past the shop and it’s discounted to £200, you’re going to be FAR more tempted to buy it than if you’d first found it at the £200 price.

It’s just the same jacket, but in the first set-up you’ve already got the value anchored at £400, so £200 seems like a bargain.

And how do you make this work for you?

Well, pretty much exactly like I’ve described above.

If you want people to REALLY be tempted by your discounts, show them that they are real discounts. Show them where the item is on sale at full price, as well as offering the discount. Set up a whole new website and link out if you have to.

People love a bargain, so prove you’re giving them one.