The anchoring effect is one of the most reliable cognitive biases in psychology — and one of the most underused on landing pages. When people encounter a number early in a decision process, that number becomes an "anchor" that disproportionately influences their judgment. Show someone "$2,000/month" first, and $500/month suddenly feels reasonable. Show them $50/month first, and $500 feels outrageous. Same price, completely different perception.
Kahneman and Tversky demonstrated this in the 1970s, and decades of research have confirmed it works even when people know the anchor is arbitrary. That's what makes it so powerful — it's not something visitors can easily override with rational thinking.
Using anchors without being manipulative
The most effective landing page anchors are honest contextual comparisons. "Companies spend an average of $4,200/month on agencies for this — our tool does it for $99" sets a legitimate anchor. Showing the "before" cost of the problem ($X lost in inefficiency) before revealing your price is another strong pattern. Pricing pages that show the enterprise tier first convert better on mid-tier plans for exactly this reason.
Where anchoring goes wrong: arbitrary "was $997, now $47!" strikethrough pricing that nobody believes. The anchor has to feel credible. If it doesn't pass the sniff test, you lose trust instead of gaining a conversion advantage.