Small discounts feel pointless, which is why uncertainty often outperforms them.

A new set of experiments caught my attention because the pattern was so consistent.

When the discount is tiny, buyers mentally round it down to ZERO.

They treat it like lint on a sweater. (At best.)

A small guaranteed discount rarely feels worth acting on. It can feel like an insult.

But give them a chance at something bigger and everything changes.

The research shows that a 10 percent chance at a free night was chosen 92.6 percent more often than a 1 percent guaranteed discount.

Same story with gym training, where a 10 percent chance at a free session beats a guaranteed 10 percent discount by 12.3 percent.

The effect intensified when discounts were presented as percentages instead of fixed amounts, which tracks with how buyers perceive value.

Tiny percentages feel like peanuts.

Most people would rather take a gamble than accept a sure thing that moves nothing in their life.

If your product cannot support a meaningful discount, you can still make it meaningful by changing the frame.

A SMALL chance at a big reward often feels bigger than a sure thing that barely registers.

The value is not in the number.

It is in the feeling.

Want to make your product irresistible? That’s what we do as product marketing consultants at Graphos Product, helping innovators turn need-driven ideas into market-ready successes.