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The print-only option nobody bought
Since print only cost the same as print plus digital, anyone looking at the options saw that choosing print meant getting digital for free. Vanishingly few people ordered print only.
Its presence still changed what people did with the other two options. Having it on the menu raised the number of people who subscribed to print plus digital instead of digital alone by about 200 to 300%.
That shift is probably valuable to the publication, since its print circulation is likely worth much more in advertising revenue than its digital circulation.
How does a decoy change choices?
A decoy is an option that is worse than one alternative on every count but not clearly worse than the other. In 1982, Joel Huber, John Payne, and Christopher Puto showed that adding such an option shifted choices toward the alternative that beat it. Print only at the price of print plus digital plays that role, because print plus digital is plainly better at no extra cost.
Why does free pull people so strongly?
Researchers Kristina Shampanier, Nina Mazar, and Dan Ariely published a 2007 study in which shoppers chose between a Lindt truffle and a Hershey's Kiss. When the prices were 15 cents and 1 cent, most chose the truffle. When both were cut by a cent, making the Kiss free, most switched to the Kiss, though the price gap had not changed.
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