The Anchoring Effect in UX Design: How First Impressions Shape User Decisions
Have you ever felt that a discounted price makes a product seem like a better deal—even if the final price is still high? For example, a product originally priced at ₩100,000 being discounted to ₩50,000 often feels much cheaper than if it had just been ₩50,000 to begin with. This isn't a coincidence—it's the Anchoring Effect, a well-known cognitive bias that influences how we perceive value. In this blog post, we’ll explore: What the anchoring effect is How it works in our cognitive system Practical UX design strategies that leverage anchoring to guide user behavior What Is the Anchoring Effect? The Anchoring Effect refers to our tendency to rely heavily on the first piece of information we receive (the anchor) when making decisions. Once an anchor is set, all future judgments are influenced by it—whether we realize it or not. Anchoring affects our thinking in areas like: Shopping and price evaluation Legal decisions Salary or investment negotiations Online donations and subsc...