Years ago, I walked into an open house.
I took a look around and
commented on the kitchen cabinets
being two different shades of white.
The real estate agent looked at me with admiration
and said “wow, you noticed that right away.”
I felt intelligent.
I felt good.
I bought the house.
Studies show that the average person
feels he or she is more intelligent
than the average person
(80% of students think
they will be in the top 50% of their class).
This real estate agent used that bias to help land a sale.
This can be used activelly too. Just a couple of days ago I was buying some hosting for a new website I’m working on. I had choosen a hosting company I believed was good but googled it looking for reviews. The number one ad when you search the company is a webpage that offers a coupon to get a 50% discount when buying hosting from that company. Why would anyone pay for ads to a page with a discount (there was nothing else on the site)? A great way to make customers think they are smart/have an unfair advantage and get them to buy. You can start billing them at full price in the next cycle.