How number sounds influence consumers

WASHINGTON - A new study has shown that consumers remember the sounds of numbers in prices and associate certain sounds with value.

Authors Keith S. Coulter (Clark University) and Robin A. Coulter (University of Connecticut) studied the ability of number-sounds to convey meaning and influence price perceptions.

“Phonetic symbolism affects price perceptions because consumers typically process, encode, and retain numbers (and hence prices) in memory in multiple formats,” the authors said.

Consumers encode what a price looks like and sounds like along with a relative numeric value that the price represents.

“Thus, sounds associated with the auditory representation can impact the numeric value associated with the analog representation-that is, small sounds can create the impression of big deals,” the authors said.

The researchers found that number-sound effects were more likely to occur when a frame of reference (a regular price) was provided. And sometimes, the sounds of numbers created false impressions of value. For example, participants perceived a 10-dollar item marked down to 7.66-dollar to be a greater discount than a 10-dollar item discounted to 7.22-dollars.

“Number sounds impact price magnitude perceptions only when consumers mentally rehearse a sale price, as they might do when comparing items on a shopping trip. Further, mental rehearsal of the same sale prices characterized by small phonemes in one language and large phonemes in another language can yield differential effects,” the authors said.

The study has been published in the Journal of Consumer Research. (ANI)