That’s-Not-All Effect
Why does getting something extra change everything?
In this issue
Your newsletter platform can run three psychological effects for you
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You ask a market vendor about a scarf. “$20,” she says.
Before you can pull your best haggling face, she adds: “Fine, two for $25.”
Ten seconds later, you own two scarves. You were only browsing.
You just met the That’s-Not-All Technique: make an offer, then add an extra or cut the price before anyone answers.
In a 1986 study, psychologist Jerry Burger tested it at a bake sale. When sellers offered a cupcake plus two cookies for 75 cents, 40% of shoppers bought.
When they quoted the cupcake alone, then “added” the cookies before shoppers could reply, 73% bought. And only the order changed.
A 2019 meta-analysis of 18 tests found it reliably wins more yeses.
Burger traced it to two forces. The sweetener feels like a concession, and we feel we owe one back. And the first price becomes the yardstick for the second.
It has limits, though. Researchers found it lifted sales of $1 chocolate boxes but barely moved $5 ones. When the price climbs, people do the math.
You’ve seen it from car dealers who throw in floor mats after naming the price.
Here’s how to use it, and how not to.
Let the offer grow before they answer
In 1978, a two-minute TV ad set out to sell a kitchen knife called Ginsu.
Between demos of it cutting through tin cans and slicing tomatoes paper-thin, the narrator asked: “How much would you pay for a knife like this? Before you answer, listen.”
Then the offer kept growing: six steak knives, a 6-in-1 kitchen tool, a spiral slicer and a carving fork, all for $9.95.
The duo behind it sold $30 million in knives by 1985 and made “But wait, there’s more!” a catchphrase.
Our take: Don’t cram the whole bundle into your first line.
Lead with the core offer, then add the extras one by one before the call to action, on a sales page or in a video ad. Keep each extra relevant, too: Ginsu’s bonuses all lived in the kitchen.
Beat the price they expect
At the January 2010 launch of the iPad, Apple’s new tablet, Steve Jobs teed up the price himself:
“If you listen to the pundits, we’re going to price it under $1,000, which is code for $999.”
The $999 went up on the big screen behind him.
Jobs let it sit there, then revealed the real starting price: $499. The audience went wild.
What we think: Name the expected price first, then beat it before anyone can respond, in a launch or a sales call. Just keep that first number believable.
When researchers opened with an ask that was too big, the trick backfired and fewer people said yes. Jobs sidestepped that by borrowing his $999 from the pundits.
Keep the free part free
Allstar Marketing Group, the company behind the Snuggie blanket, had a favorite TV script: one product for $19.95, plus a second one “free” if you “call now.”
The catch: hidden “processing and handling” fees. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said one $19.95 deal really cost $35.85.
In 2015, Allstar agreed to pay $8 million to settle charges from the FTC and New York’s attorney general. In 2018, the FTC mailed 218,254 refund checks.
Our take: The trick works because the extra feels like a favor, and people return favors. Hide a fee inside it, and you lose the goodwill that made it work.
Put every cost in the pitch, not the fine print. If the bonus costs money, call it an upsell.
A new AI tool every week? Get three ways to use it by Monday
New AI models come out on a schedule that would make Marvel jealous. Most marketers bookmark the hype and move on.
Tactics skips the hype and gets straight to the work. Every Saturday, our free newsletter takes one new AI tool and turns it into three tactics you can apply on Monday.
Each tactic comes with:
- A "do it now" checklist
- A copy-paste prompt
- A live example to steal from
All in 7 minutes or less, so your coffee won't even go cold.
AI MARKETING: AI can improve your juniors’ output without improving your juniors. In a study with 133 US patent lawyers, an AI drafting tool lifted work quality, most of all for juniors. But in a final task without AI, only seniors who’d used it beat peers who hadn’t. Teach the basics first.
AI SEARCH: Your customers trust AI answers, just not with their money. One survey says 64% of US adults trust AI summaries at least somewhat. Yet 56% click a link to double-check, and 71% want a real source before buying. Lead with a named expert and original data, their top reasons to click.
BUSINESS: Show the full slide upfront, and your viewers need almost six seconds to find what you’re talking about. Reveal each element as you mention it, and they find it in one. In a narrated lesson for 40 Japanese university students, that step-by-step reveal also lifted test scores. Interesting.
ICYMI, last time we looked at the Low-Ball Effect.
The “See you at 7AM” Crew
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