Technique · Influence
Lowball
A known tactic: win the decision with an advantage (a low price, a promo, a feature), let the buyer settle into the choice, then take the advantage away before the deal closes. It lifts gross conversion because commitments grow their own reasons, and it returns as refunds, chargebacks and distrust. It is listed under Not now at every maturity on revenue grounds.
Plain label: terms that worsen after commitmentAlso known as: lowball, drip pricing, hidden fees, bait pricing, price changed at checkout
How it works
Once people decide, they generate new reasons for the choice, and these reasons hold even after the original advantage disappears; buyers at the dealership in the book sometimes apologized to the salesman. Online, the same sequence shows up as fees revealed at the last step, promos voided after sign-up and features removed after migration. The gap between the first price seen and the final price (INF-K-03) is the signature to measure.
In the book. The lowball: get the decision with an advantage, deepen the commitment, then remove the advantage, and the decision usually stands (Ch.3, pp.75-77). The same self-made reasons explain why a canceled publicity reward left energy savers saving more (Ch.3, pp.77-79). INF-T-CC-27 (Influence Ch.3, p.75)
Why it is Not now. It converts now and returns as refunds, chargebacks and a gap between the first-seen and final price. That makes it a revenue-quality problem at every maturity, not a growth lever.
Evidence Evidence grade B. Moderate evidence: solid studies with some limits.. Lab, meta-analytic and field evidence agree that it raises first-step conversion.
Evidence warning
Drip pricing and hidden mandatory fees face junk-fee rules in the US (for example in ticketing and short-term rentals) and similar rules elsewhere; check each market.
Satisfaction scores cannot clear these flows: steered buyers often report being pleased with a poor choice.
What the research says
At a car dealership where the author trained, salespeople offered a price about $400 below competitors, let buyers commit, then removed the advantage through a "calculation error" or a manager's veto; most deals still closed.
Influence Ch.3, pp.75-76
In a large ticket-marketplace experiment, buyers shown fees only at checkout spent more and were more likely to buy than buyers shown all-in prices from the start.
Blake, Moshary, Sweeney & Tadelis, Marketing Science, 2021
A meta-analysis found that the lowball procedure reliably increases compliance.
Burger & Caputo, Social Influence, 2015
How to build it
- Web
- Detection pattern: compare the first price a user sees with the checkout total, and flag any session where mandatory fees or a removed discount raise it.
- E-commerce
- Detection pattern: promo codes that stop applying after account creation, or shipping costs revealed only on the final step.
- B2B
- Detection pattern: quotes recalculated after the buyer has configured or migrated, or early-adopter pricing withdrawn after onboarding.
What can go wrong
- Gross conversion rises while net revenue falls once refunds and chargebacks arrive.
- Buyers who discover the change leave and tell others.
- Regulatory exposure in markets with junk-fee or drip-pricing rules.
Pairs well with
- Replace with in-t-cc-34: the full price on the first price display.
- Track INF-K-03 as a default guardrail on pricing and checkout tests.
Sources
Influence · Robert Cialdini
Ch.3, p.75
Low-ball procedure for producing compliance: commitment then cost · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1978
The low-ball compliance procedure: a meta-analysis · Social Influence, 2015
Evidence grade B. Moderate evidence: solid studies with some limits.Price salience and product choice · Marketing Science, 2021
Evidence grade A. Robust evidence: replicated, peer-reviewed research.
Source IDs: INF-T-CC-27
Book content is paraphrased, never quoted at length. Last verified October 24, 2026.
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