Would you believe us if we said that the same piece of information expressed in two different ways could create different impressions in our minds? The framing effect is a cognitive bias that influences our thinking and decision-making capability when said in different ways. In other words, we are affected by how the same fact or question is presented to us. This effect is leveraged in marketing and is part of what we call neuromarketing.

Let us consider this example. People are more willing to spend $60 on a product that comes with a free gift valued at $20 than on buying an alternate product in that category that costs $40.

In both instances, the customer would be spending the same amount. The only difference is that one is framed as a gain, while the latter isn’t – this is the framing effect. The framing effect is a cognitive bias or an unconscious irrational conclusion the mind makes. Cognitive biases are present in all of us, irrespective of who we are.

The framing effect is not limited to pricing. A trick that writers use is to choose words with positive connotations to create compelling copy. “Save time,” for example, is a more convincing framing than “don’t waste time.” Copywriters and content creators often use clever language and wordplay to capitalize on the customers’ framing bias.

The most common framing effect draws attention to either the positive gain or possible loss. As humans, we are likely to fall for this sort of framing because we tend to avoid certain losses than an equivalent gain. 

Found this interesting, Learn a new term in neuroscience marketing called ambiguity Bias https://www.skillcamper.com/what-is-the-ambiguity-bias.html/