feat(skills): add marketing skills collection
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# Pricing Models
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The eight core ways to structure *how* you charge. This is distinct from the value metric (what unit you charge on) and the tier structure (how you package). Most real products **combine** two or more of these.
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## Contents
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- The 8 Pricing Models
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- Combining Models
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- The Value/Price Ratio
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- The Low-Price Retention Counterpoint
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---
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## The 8 Pricing Models
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| Model | How it works | Best when | Reference |
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|-------|-------------|-----------|-----------|
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| **Flat-rate** | One price, one product, everyone pays the same | Simple product, one persona, you want zero pricing friction | Basecamp |
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| **Usage-based** | Pay for what you consume (metered) | Value scales directly with volume; consumption is variable and easy to meter | Stripe |
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| **Tier-based** | Good-better-best packages at set prices | Distinct segments with different needs and budgets | Kinsta |
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| **User-based** | Price per seat/user | Value grows as more people in the org use it (collaboration) | Notion |
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| **Feature-based** | Price gated by which capabilities are unlocked | Clear feature tiers map to willingness to pay | Intercom |
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| **Credit-based** | Buy a bucket of credits, spend them on actions | Usage is lumpy or bursty; you want prepaid commitment and simple mental accounting | Audible |
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| **Outcome-based** | Pay per result delivered (resolution, task completed) | You can measure and attribute the outcome, and the outcome is what the buyer actually wants | Intercom Fin, Zapier |
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| **Hybrid** | Deliberate mix (e.g. platform fee + usage, or seats + credits) | A single model under- or over-charges different customers | Drift |
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### When to reach for each
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- **Flat-rate** — reach for it first if you can. It's the easiest to sell, easiest to understand, easiest to forecast. The tradeoff: you leave money on the table with your biggest customers.
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- **Usage-based** — the fairest model when consumption tracks value, but revenue is less predictable and buyers fear a surprise bill. Pair with spend caps or alerts.
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- **Tier-based** — the default for self-serve SaaS. Lets one page serve SMB through mid-market.
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- **User-based** — only if value genuinely rises with headcount. If it doesn't, seats punish adoption (teams share logins to avoid paying).
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- **Feature-based** — powerful for segmentation, but don't gate the feature that delivers your core value; gate the ones that separate casual from serious users.
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- **Credit-based** — good for AI/actions-based products where each action has a cost. Credits decouple price from a single unit and make prepayment feel natural.
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- **Outcome-based** — the emerging model for AI agents (charge per resolved ticket, per automation run). Highest trust because the buyer only pays when they win — but only viable when the outcome is measurable and clearly attributable to you.
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- **Hybrid** — where most mature products end up. A base platform fee for predictability plus a usage/outcome component for upside.
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---
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## Combining Models
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These aren't mutually exclusive. Common combinations:
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- **Tiers + per-user** — seats within each package (most B2B SaaS)
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- **Platform fee + usage** — predictable base, variable upside (Twilio-style)
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- **Seats + credits** — pay per person, then top up credits for heavy actions
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- **Feature tiers + outcome** — unlock capabilities by tier, charge per result on top
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Pick the primary model from the value metric, then layer a second only if a single model clearly mis-prices a real segment.
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---
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## The Value/Price Ratio
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Aim for roughly a **10:1 value-to-price ratio** (Ryan Kulp): the customer should perceive about **10x more value than they pay**. This is the buffer that makes the purchase feel obvious rather than negotiated, and it leaves headroom to raise prices later as you add value.
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If you can't articulate 10x value, the problem is usually the offer or the positioning, not the price point.
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---
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## The Low-Price Retention Counterpoint
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Charging too little is not the safe choice. **Low prices hurt retention** (Patrick Campbell / ProfitWell data, echoed by operators like Josh Pigford of SpyFu and Tyler Tringas): under-priced customers churn *more*, not less, because a low price signals low value and attracts the least-committed, most price-sensitive buyers.
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Related: the **discount-asker signal** — customers who negotiate for a discount tend to churn at roughly **2x** the rate of full-price customers. Discounting to close a deal often buys a customer who leaves anyway.
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**Implication:** when in doubt, price higher. It's easier to grandfather a price down than to claw one up, and a higher price selects for better-fit, longer-retained customers.
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# Pricing Page Teardown
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A structured way to score a live pricing page and return prioritized fixes. It grades **two axes**: the classic **human buyer experience**, and — the newer, higher-leverage lens — **AI-agent readiness**: whether the LLMs and agents that increasingly shortlist and compare tools can actually read, quote, and recommend your pricing.
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> **Framework credit:** the two-axis structure and especially the AI-agent-readiness lens are adapted from **Kyle Poyar's** (Growth Unhinged) pricing-page teardown. Learn-from-only — this rubric is authored independently; credit the framing to Poyar.
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## Why the second axis matters now
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Buyers increasingly ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude *"what's the best [category] tool and what does it cost?"* before they ever hit your site. If your price is trapped in an image, rendered only by JavaScript, or missing from the page's text, a text-fetching agent often can't read it — some agents render JS or fall back to vision/OCR, but many don't, so don't count on it. And a "Contact us" tier gives an agent no public number to quote at all. When the agent can't read your price, it recommends and quotes the competitor whose pricing it *can*. This axis is the pricing-page complement to `ai-seo` and `schema` — neither *guarantees* a citation, but a page a fetcher can't parse makes one much less likely.
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**The 30-second test — the "paste test":** give the pricing URL to a **browsing-capable** AI (Perplexity, ChatGPT with search, or Claude with web) — or paste the page's *rendered* text — and ask *"What are the plans and prices?"* If it can't answer correctly and completely, agents fetching your page the same way will struggle too. It's a heuristic, not proof every agent fails (some render JS or use vision), but a clean miss is a real finding worth fixing.
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## The rubric
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Score each dimension **Pass / Partial / Gap** (or 1–5 if you want a number). Two sub-scores (one per axis) plus a prioritized fix list is the deliverable — not a single vanity number.
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### Axis 1 — Human buyer experience
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| # | Dimension | Passing looks like | Common gaps |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| 1 | **Value-prop clarity** | Above the fold: what you get + why it's worth it, in the buyer's words | Feature list with no outcome; "flexible plans for every team" |
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| 2 | **Plan clarity / differentiation** | Obvious which plan is for whom and exactly how they differ | Feature-soup tables; tiers that blur together; no "who it's for" |
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| 3 | **Cognitive load** | A buyer can decide in <30s | Too many tiers (5+), unexplained jargon, decision paralysis |
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| 4 | **Trust signals** | Logos, testimonials, security/compliance, a guarantee near the CTA | No proof; trust content buried below the fold |
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| 5 | **Pricing psychology** | A recommended/anchor tier, sensible anchoring, coherent charm vs. round pricing | No recommended tier; highest price hidden last; random price endings |
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| 6 | **Transparency** | The actual price is shown; what's in/out is clear; no surprise fees | "Contact us" on every tier; hidden overages; usage limits omitted |
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### Axis 2 — AI-agent readiness (the novel lens)
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| # | Dimension | Passing looks like | Common gaps |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| 7 | **Machine-readable pricing** | The real numbers are in the page's HTML/text | Price in an image/SVG, JS-only render, or a PDF — text-fetching crawlers get nothing reliable; "Contact sales" leaves no public number to quote |
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| 8 | **FAQ / objection coverage** | Extractable answers to "does it do X," "what's the limit," "can I cancel," "is there a free trial" | No FAQ, or answers only in a support portal an agent won't reach |
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| 9 | **Per-tier depth in text** | Each plan's inclusions, limits, and quotas stated in words | Differences shown only as checkmark columns in an image; limits unnamed |
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| 10 | **Structured data & extractability** | `Product`/`Offer` schema markup, clean semantic HTML, AI search/agent bots allowed to crawl (`llms.txt` is a nice-to-have, not yet a standard) | No schema; pricing behind auth/interaction; AI *search* bots blocked in robots.txt |
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Dimensions 7 and 10 hand off to **`schema`** (Product/Offer JSON-LD) and **`ai-seo`** (extractability, AI-bot access, `llms.txt`) for implementation.
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## How to run it
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1. **Load context** — read `.agents/product-marketing.md` (ICP, positioning) so "clarity" is judged against the *right* buyer.
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2. **Fetch the page as an agent would** — get the rendered text/HTML, not a screenshot. Note immediately whether prices appear in the text (that's dimension 7).
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3. **Run the paste test** — ask an LLM for the plans and prices from the URL; record what it gets wrong or misses.
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4. **Score all 10 dimensions** Pass/Partial/Gap with a one-line reason each.
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5. **Prioritize fixes** by impact × effort. AI-readiness gaps are often *high impact, low effort* (add text prices, add Offer schema) — surface those first.
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## Output template
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```markdown
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# Pricing Page Teardown — [url] — [date]
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## Scores
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- Human buyer experience: [X/6 passing]
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- AI-agent readiness: [X/4 passing]
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## Paste test
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[What an LLM returned for "plans and prices" — and what it got wrong/missed]
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## Dimension-by-dimension
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| # | Dimension | Verdict | Note |
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|---|-----------|---------|------|
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| 1 | Value-prop clarity | Pass/Partial/Gap | ... |
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| … | … | … | … |
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## Prioritized fixes (impact × effort)
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1. [High/low] — [fix] — [why it matters] — [→ schema / ai-seo / cro if handing off]
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2. ...
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## The one thing
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[The single highest-leverage fix — often "put your actual prices in text + add Offer schema so AI can quote you."]
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```
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## Common failure patterns
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- **The image-price** — a beautiful pricing graphic with the numbers baked in. Humans love it; text-fetching agents (and screen readers) usually can't read it. Put prices in text; the image can stay as decoration.
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- **"Contact us" everywhere** — sometimes right for true enterprise, but if *all* tiers hide price, both humans and agents bounce to a competitor with numbers. Show at least a starting price or a representative range.
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- **Checkmark-only tables** — feature differences shown only as ✓/✗ columns in an image or icon font. State the actual limits and inclusions in words.
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- **JS-only render / auth wall** — if the price only appears after interaction or login, most fetchers won't see it (only JS-rendering agents might).
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- **Blocked AI *search* bots** — the crawlers that feed AI *answers* are the search agents, not the training crawlers: OpenAI's `OAI-SearchBot`, Anthropic's `Claude-SearchBot` / `Claude-User`, Perplexity's `PerplexityBot`. Blocking `GPTBot` only opts out of model *training*, not ChatGPT Search — so check which bots your robots.txt actually blocks. (Bot access is `ai-seo`'s domain — hand it off there.)
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## Related
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- `schema` — Product/Offer JSON-LD so machines read your tiers and prices.
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- `ai-seo` — extractability, AI-bot access, `llms.txt`, getting cited by AI answers.
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- `cro` — converting the human once the page is clear.
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- `copywriting` — the value-prop and tier copy the teardown flags.
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# Pricing Research Methods
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## Contents
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- Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter (The Four Questions, How to Analyze, Survey Tips, Sample Output)
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- MaxDiff Analysis (How It Works, Example Survey Question, Analyzing Results, Using MaxDiff for Packaging)
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- Willingness to Pay Surveys
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- Usage-Value Correlation Analysis
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## Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter
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The Van Westendorp survey identifies the acceptable price range for your product.
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### The Four Questions
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Ask each respondent:
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1. "At what price would you consider [product] to be so expensive that you would not consider buying it?" (Too expensive)
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2. "At what price would you consider [product] to be priced so low that you would question its quality?" (Too cheap)
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3. "At what price would you consider [product] to be starting to get expensive, but you still might consider it?" (Expensive/high side)
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4. "At what price would you consider [product] to be a bargain—a great buy for the money?" (Cheap/good value)
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### How to Analyze
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1. Plot cumulative distributions for each question
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2. Find the intersections:
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- **Point of Marginal Cheapness (PMC):** "Too cheap" crosses "Expensive"
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- **Point of Marginal Expensiveness (PME):** "Too expensive" crosses "Cheap"
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- **Optimal Price Point (OPP):** "Too cheap" crosses "Too expensive"
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- **Indifference Price Point (IDP):** "Expensive" crosses "Cheap"
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**The acceptable price range:** PMC to PME
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**Optimal pricing zone:** Between OPP and IDP
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### Survey Tips
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- Need 100-300 respondents for reliable data
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- Segment by persona (different willingness to pay)
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- Use realistic product descriptions
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- Consider adding purchase intent questions
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### Sample Output
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```
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Price Sensitivity Analysis Results:
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─────────────────────────────────
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Point of Marginal Cheapness: $29/mo
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Optimal Price Point: $49/mo
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Indifference Price Point: $59/mo
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Point of Marginal Expensiveness: $79/mo
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Recommended range: $49-59/mo
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Current price: $39/mo (below optimal)
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Opportunity: 25-50% price increase without significant demand impact
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```
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---
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## MaxDiff Analysis (Best-Worst Scaling)
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MaxDiff identifies which features customers value most, informing packaging decisions.
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### How It Works
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1. List 8-15 features you could include
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2. Show respondents sets of 4-5 features at a time
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3. Ask: "Which is MOST important? Which is LEAST important?"
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4. Repeat across multiple sets until all features compared
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5. Statistical analysis produces importance scores
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### Example Survey Question
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```
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Which feature is MOST important to you?
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Which feature is LEAST important to you?
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□ Unlimited projects
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□ Custom branding
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□ Priority support
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□ API access
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□ Advanced analytics
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```
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### Analyzing Results
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Features are ranked by utility score:
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- High utility = Must-have (include in base tier)
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- Medium utility = Differentiator (use for tier separation)
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- Low utility = Nice-to-have (premium tier or cut)
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### Using MaxDiff for Packaging
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| Utility Score | Packaging Decision |
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|---------------|-------------------|
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| Top 20% | Include in all tiers (table stakes) |
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| 20-50% | Use to differentiate tiers |
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| 50-80% | Higher tiers only |
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| Bottom 20% | Consider cutting or premium add-on |
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---
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## Willingness to Pay Surveys
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**Direct method (simple but biased):**
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"How much would you pay for [product]?"
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**Better: Gabor-Granger method:**
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"Would you buy [product] at [$X]?" (Yes/No)
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Vary price across respondents to build demand curve.
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**Even better: Conjoint analysis:**
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Show product bundles at different prices
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Respondents choose preferred option
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Statistical analysis reveals price sensitivity per feature
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---
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## Usage-Value Correlation Analysis
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### 1. Instrument usage data
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Track how customers use your product:
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- Feature usage frequency
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- Volume metrics (users, records, API calls)
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- Outcome metrics (revenue generated, time saved)
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### 2. Correlate with customer success
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- Which usage patterns predict retention?
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- Which usage patterns predict expansion?
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- Which customers pay the most, and why?
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### 3. Identify value thresholds
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- At what usage level do customers "get it"?
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- At what usage level do they expand?
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- At what usage level should price increase?
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### Example Analysis
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```
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Usage-Value Correlation Analysis:
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─────────────────────────────────
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Segment: High-LTV customers (>$10k ARR)
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Average monthly active users: 15
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Average projects: 8
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Average integrations: 4
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Segment: Churned customers
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Average monthly active users: 3
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Average projects: 2
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Average integrations: 0
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Insight: Value correlates with team adoption (users)
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and depth of use (integrations)
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Recommendation: Price per user, gate integrations to higher tiers
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```
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# Tier Structure and Packaging
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## Contents
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- How Many Tiers?
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- Good-Better-Best Framework
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- Tier Differentiation Strategies
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- Example Tier Structure
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- Packaging for Personas (Identifying Pricing Personas, Persona-Based Packaging)
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- Freemium vs. Free Trial (When to Use Freemium, When to Use Free Trial, Hybrid Approaches)
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- Enterprise Pricing (When to Add Custom Pricing, Enterprise Tier Elements, Enterprise Pricing Strategies)
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## How Many Tiers?
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**2 tiers:** Simple, clear choice
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- Works for: Clear SMB vs. Enterprise split
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- Risk: May leave money on table
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**3 tiers:** Industry standard
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- Good tier = Entry point
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- Better tier = Recommended (anchor to best)
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- Best tier = High-value customers
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**4+ tiers:** More granularity
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- Works for: Wide range of customer sizes
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- Risk: Decision paralysis, complexity
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---
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## Good-Better-Best Framework
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**Good tier (Entry):**
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- Purpose: Remove barriers to entry
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- Includes: Core features, limited usage
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- Price: Low, accessible
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- Target: Small teams, try before you buy
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**Better tier (Recommended):**
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- Purpose: Where most customers land
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- Includes: Full features, reasonable limits
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- Price: Your "anchor" price
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- Target: Growing teams, serious users
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**Best tier (Premium):**
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- Purpose: Capture high-value customers
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- Includes: Everything, advanced features, higher limits
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- Price: Premium (often 2-3x "Better")
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- Target: Larger teams, power users, enterprises
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---
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## Tier Differentiation Strategies
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**Feature gating:**
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- Basic features in all tiers
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- Advanced features in higher tiers
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- Works when features have clear value differences
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**Usage limits:**
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- Same features, different limits
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- More users, storage, API calls at higher tiers
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- Works when value scales with usage
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**Support level:**
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- Email support → Priority support → Dedicated success
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- Works for products with implementation complexity
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**Access and customization:**
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- API access, SSO, custom branding
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- Works for enterprise differentiation
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---
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## Example Tier Structure
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```
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┌────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┐
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│ │ Starter │ Pro │ Business │
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│ │ $29/mo │ $79/mo │ $199/mo │
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├────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┤
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│ Users │ Up to 5 │ Up to 20 │ Unlimited │
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│ Projects │ 10 │ Unlimited │ Unlimited │
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│ Storage │ 5 GB │ 50 GB │ 500 GB │
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│ Integrations │ 3 │ 10 │ Unlimited │
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│ Analytics │ Basic │ Advanced │ Custom │
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│ Support │ Email │ Priority │ Dedicated │
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│ API Access │ ✗ │ ✓ │ ✓ │
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│ SSO │ ✗ │ ✗ │ ✓ │
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│ Audit logs │ ✗ │ ✗ │ ✓ │
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└────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┘
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```
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---
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## Packaging for Personas
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### Identifying Pricing Personas
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Different customers have different:
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- Willingness to pay
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- Feature needs
|
||||
- Buying processes
|
||||
- Value perception
|
||||
|
||||
**Segment by:**
|
||||
- Company size (solopreneur → SMB → enterprise)
|
||||
- Use case (marketing vs. sales vs. support)
|
||||
- Sophistication (beginner → power user)
|
||||
- Industry (different budget norms)
|
||||
|
||||
### Persona-Based Packaging
|
||||
|
||||
**Step 1: Define personas**
|
||||
|
||||
| Persona | Size | Needs | WTP | Example |
|
||||
|---------|------|-------|-----|---------|
|
||||
| Freelancer | 1 person | Basic features | Low | $19/mo |
|
||||
| Small Team | 2-10 | Collaboration | Medium | $49/mo |
|
||||
| Growing Co | 10-50 | Scale, integrations | Higher | $149/mo |
|
||||
| Enterprise | 50+ | Security, support | High | Custom |
|
||||
|
||||
**Step 2: Map features to personas**
|
||||
|
||||
| Feature | Freelancer | Small Team | Growing | Enterprise |
|
||||
|---------|------------|------------|---------|------------|
|
||||
| Core features | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
|
||||
| Collaboration | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
|
||||
| Integrations | — | Limited | Full | Full |
|
||||
| API access | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
|
||||
| SSO/SAML | — | — | — | ✓ |
|
||||
| Audit logs | — | — | — | ✓ |
|
||||
| Custom contract | — | — | — | ✓ |
|
||||
|
||||
**Step 3: Price to value for each persona**
|
||||
- Research willingness to pay per segment
|
||||
- Set prices that capture value without blocking adoption
|
||||
- Consider segment-specific landing pages
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Freemium vs. Free Trial
|
||||
|
||||
### When to Use Freemium
|
||||
|
||||
**Freemium works when:**
|
||||
- Product has viral/network effects
|
||||
- Free users provide value (content, data, referrals)
|
||||
- Large market where % conversion drives volume
|
||||
- Low marginal cost to serve free users
|
||||
- Clear feature/usage limits for upgrade trigger
|
||||
|
||||
**Freemium risks:**
|
||||
- Free users may never convert
|
||||
- Devalues product perception
|
||||
- Support costs for non-paying users
|
||||
- Harder to raise prices later
|
||||
|
||||
### When to Use Free Trial
|
||||
|
||||
**Free trial works when:**
|
||||
- Product needs time to demonstrate value
|
||||
- Onboarding/setup investment required
|
||||
- B2B with buying committees
|
||||
- Higher price points
|
||||
- Product is "sticky" once configured
|
||||
|
||||
**Trial best practices:**
|
||||
- 7-14 days for simple products
|
||||
- 14-30 days for complex products
|
||||
- Full access (not feature-limited)
|
||||
- Clear countdown and reminders
|
||||
- Credit card optional vs. required trade-off
|
||||
|
||||
**Credit card upfront:**
|
||||
- Higher trial-to-paid conversion (40-50% vs. 15-25%)
|
||||
- Lower trial volume
|
||||
- Better qualified leads
|
||||
|
||||
### Hybrid Approaches
|
||||
|
||||
**Freemium + Trial:**
|
||||
- Free tier with limited features
|
||||
- Trial of premium features
|
||||
- Example: Zoom (free 40-min, trial of Pro)
|
||||
|
||||
**Reverse trial:**
|
||||
- Start with full access
|
||||
- After trial, downgrade to free tier
|
||||
- Example: See premium value, live with limitations until ready
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Enterprise Pricing
|
||||
|
||||
### When to Add Custom Pricing
|
||||
|
||||
Add "Contact Sales" when:
|
||||
- Deal sizes exceed $10k+ ARR
|
||||
- Customers need custom contracts
|
||||
- Implementation/onboarding required
|
||||
- Security/compliance requirements
|
||||
- Procurement processes involved
|
||||
|
||||
### Enterprise Tier Elements
|
||||
|
||||
**Table stakes:**
|
||||
- SSO/SAML
|
||||
- Audit logs
|
||||
- Admin controls
|
||||
- Uptime SLA
|
||||
- Security certifications
|
||||
|
||||
**Value-adds:**
|
||||
- Dedicated support/success
|
||||
- Custom onboarding
|
||||
- Training sessions
|
||||
- Custom integrations
|
||||
- Priority roadmap input
|
||||
|
||||
### Enterprise Pricing Strategies
|
||||
|
||||
**Per-seat at scale:**
|
||||
- Volume discounts for large teams
|
||||
- Example: $15/user (standard) → $10/user (100+)
|
||||
|
||||
**Platform fee + usage:**
|
||||
- Base fee for access
|
||||
- Usage-based above thresholds
|
||||
- Example: $500/mo base + $0.01 per API call
|
||||
|
||||
**Value-based contracts:**
|
||||
- Price tied to customer's revenue/outcomes
|
||||
- Example: % of transactions, revenue share
|
||||
Reference in new issue
Block a user