Low-priced products seem less sustainable

🎓 New to Science Says? This is a 3-min practical summary of a scientific study 📩 Subscribe for $0 to get one weekly, or join the 📈 paid version for 250+ insights, real-life case studies, and exclusive playbooks.

An important note before we jump in…

📊 Trying a slightly new format. Do you like it? (VOTE below)

I’m always thinking about how to make Science Says as interesting and useful as possible for you.

Lately, I felt there were some parts of the newsletter that could be improved. I especially wanted to try changing up the 🏢 Companies using this and ⚡ Steps to implement sections.

So today I wanted to try something new. Make sure to check out the new 👀 Real-life example section and the 🎁 Bonus mini-insight at the end!

Once you’ve read it, scroll back up and tell me what you think. Vote here, to decide whether to make this change permanent! (Note: once you vote, you can add optimal comments explaining your choice. Can’t wait to hear what you think!) 👇

Want to promote your product here? Here’s all you need to know.

📝 Context

Topic: Pricing | Product
For: B2C. Can be tested for B2B
Research date: April 2025
Universities: Indian Institute of Management Udaipur, Indian Institute of Management Indore

Imagine you’re looking for a gift for your eco-conscious friend, they need a new backpack so you look for a sustainable option. You see two good ones, one costs $30, the other $50.

Somehow the more expensive one also seems more sustainable, right?

New research shows us why.

P.S.: We also enjoy using sustainable products more, and are more satisfied with them. Eco-friendly dishwasher soap made washing dishes 23% more “enjoyable”.

📈 Recommendation

Avoid charging low prices for sustainable products. People will perceive your product as less eco-friendly if the price is low.

If you want to lower the price for your sustainable products, justify how you’re able to keep production costs low (e.g. “We automate production to keep prices affordable”).

🎓 Findings

• When a sustainable product is priced higher, people consider it more eco-friendly, regardless of the product’s quality.

• As part of a series of 6 experiments, researchers found that people:

  • Thought lower priced sustainable backpacks were 8.35% less eco-friendly than higher priced ones

  • Perceived eco-friendly backpacks  as 7.8% more eco-friendly when they were priced higher than non eco-friendly backpacks

  • Guessed a detergent’s production cost as 42% higher when it was more expensive ($20 vs $14), and saw it as 6.1% more eco-friendly

• The effect:

  • Is stronger when people trust the sustainable claims (e.g. they see the brand as truly sustainable)

  • Weakens when lower prices for sustainable items are justified (e.g. “We buy in bulk”)

🧠 Why it works

• We perceive different product characteristics (e.g. production cost and final price) as related to each other.

• We tend to think that sustainable products cost more to produce, which makes us think they are priced higher.

• So we are skeptical when we see a sustainable product with a low price.

📱 Unlock LinkedIn growth with an AI that actually gets it

The ultimate LinkedIn AI tool, trained on 500+ million top-performing posts

Whether you're a founder, creator, or professional, Taplio helps you write content that gets attention fast.

1️⃣ Pick the perfect hook and post format
2️⃣ Generate engaging content in seconds
3️⃣ Edit, refine, and schedule without ever leaving the platform

No more staring at a blank page or guessing what works. Taplio takes the guesswork out of content creation. Stay consistent, and grow your audience.

👉 Use the code “SCIENCE1X1” to get 1 month for $1!

This announcement was sponsored. Want your brand here? Click here.

✋ Limitations

• The study only looked at a few product categories (e.g. backpacks, detergents). It likely also applies to other product categories where price differences are noticeable (e.g. apparel, furniture), but less so to others where prices are either very high (e.g. luxury) or very low (e.g. soap).

• It is likely that the effect is weaker, or disappears for people who have high knowledge of sustainable practices as they rely on other factors (e.g. materials, certifications), and not price, to make judgements.

• The research did not measure actual sales behavior, when people perceived products as more sustainable. 

👀 Real-life example (NEW!)

Earth Breeze sells affordable, eco-friendly laundry detergent. The price is considerably lower than regular ones (e.g. TidePods’ cheaper option retails around $20). 

❌ Issue: They don’t explain how they’re able to keep prices low. This makes the product seem less sustainable.

✅ Solution: They could correct this with different tactics:

• Ecommerce: Mention clearly on the home page and product pages, near the price, how they’re able to keep their prices low (e.g. “Our mission is to make sustainable detergent accessible to all. We streamline our operations to keep prices as low as we can”).

• Packaging: Add a mention to the price (e.g. We invest in automated production to keep prices low for you).

• Content: Anticipate objections and people attacking the product’s legitimacy. Publish SEO and AI-search optimized website articles explaining how prices are kept low, and the technicalities of how products are sustainable.

🔍 Study type

Lab and online experiments.

📖 Research

Price sustainable inference: The role of sustainable= higher production cost lay belief. Journal of Business Research (April 2025)

🏫 Researchers

• Amogh Kumbargeri, Indian Institute of Management Udaipur

• Sanjeev Tripathi, Indian Institute of Management Indore

Remember: This is a new scientific discovery. In the future it will probably be better understood and could even be proven wrong (that’s how science works). It may also not be generalizable to your situation. If it’s a risky change, always test it on a small scale before rolling it out widely.

🎁 Bonus mini-insight (NEW!)

From the Science Says Playbook of Pricing & Promotions (a combination of several studies).

🎓 Insight: When should you use precise prices (e.g. $2,041), rather than rounded ($2,000) or just-below prices ($1,999)?

📈 Recommendation: Use precise prices when you expect the other party to negotiate (e.g. real estate, B2B deals, bargaining), you will end up with a higher final price. Precise prices feel more rational and legitimate, and will be negotiated in smaller chunks (e.g. by $2.50 if the price is $52.50 vs by $10 if it’s $50).

✋ Careful: Fewer people will make offers, as you may seem inflexible. Very precise prices (e.g. $2,436.21) could backfire if you are dealing with an expert buyer. Try to avoid them in most other situations outside of negotiated prices, because precise prices are hard to remember and can cause mental overload.

📊 How did you like this new tweaked insight format? 

Please scroll back up 👆 and VOTE to decide whether we should keep it like this.

To wrap up, here is how else Science Says can help your marketing:

• 📈 Join the Science Says Platform to unlock all 250+ insights, real-world case studies, and exclusive playbooks

• 📘 Boost your sales and profits with topic-specific Science-based Playbooks (e.g. Pricing, Ad Creatives, Ecommerce, SaaS, AI)

• 🔬 Get insights and playbooks tailored to your team’s needs. My team of PhDs and I regularly help leading brands in FMCG, retail, and tech. Find out more.

🎓 It took me, a PhD analyst, and a marketing pro, 13 hours to accurately turn this 15-page research paper into this 3min insight. 

If you enjoyed it please share it with a friend, or share it on LinkedIn and tag me (Thomas McKinlay), I’d love to engage and amplify! 

If this was forwarded by a friend you can subscribe below for $0 👇