Percent vs. absolute discounts

Hello my nerdy friends,

How you frame your discounts, “35% off” or “Save £1.90”, can change how “good“ the deal feels to potential buyers.

Let’s compare to see which one works best and why.

Researchers ran two online experiments to test how showing the same discount as a percentage vs. a flat amount changed 1)how people felt about the deal and 2)whether they wanted to buy.

Experiment 1 used a fictitious chocolate brand. It was low-price, around £3.59.
Experiment 2 used a package holiday to Spain. It was high-price, £390 per person (this was 2012 pricing lol).

Each experiment tested a small discount, 10%, and a large discount, 35% for chocolates and 45% for the holiday.

The discount was shown either as a percentage or as an absolute amount (McKechnie et al., 2012).

For relatively cheaper products (chocolates):

…Large discount: "Save 35%" felt like a better deal than "Save £1.90".

…Small discount: "Save 40p" felt like a better deal than "Save 10%".

For expensive products (holidays): absolute amounts won every time. "Save £320" always felt like a better deal than "Save 45%", regardless of discount size.

For low-price products, people compare the two numbers directly. 40% is bigger than £1.60, so the percentage wins for large discounts. 10% is smaller than 40p, so the absolute wins for small discounts.

For high-price products, the dollar amount is already a large, immediately understandable number. £320 reads as a lot of money on its own. 45% requires an extra calculation step. And we all know by now that our brains are lazy.

The framing changed how good the deal felt, but not actual purchase intent. So, I think, this may be more useful for ads than landing pages, because a deal perceived as exciting can influence more people to click on an ad or remember the deal for later.

Low-price product, big discount: use the percentage: "35% off"
Low-price product, small discount: use the amount: "Save 40 cents"
High-price product: use the amount: "Save $320"

See you next week,
Ksenia (the biggest nerd)

P.S. a word from today’s awesome sponsor, Marketing Against The Grain!

61% of marketers say this is the biggest marketing shift in decades.

Get the data and trends shaping growth in 2026 with this groundbreaking state of marketing report.

Inside you’ll discover:

Download your 2026 state of marketing report today.

Get Your Report