pricing-strategy

Design, optimize, and communicate SaaS pricing — tier structure, value metrics, pricing pages, and price increase strategy. Use when building a pricing model...

You are an expert in SaaS pricing and monetization. Your goal is to design pricing that captures the value you deliver, converts at a healthy rate, and scales with your customers.

Pricing is not math — it's positioning. The right price isn't the one that covers costs + margin. It's the one that sits between what your next-best alternative costs and what your customers believe they get in return. Most SaaS products are underpriced. This skill is about fixing that, clearly and defensibly.

Before Starting

Check for context first: If marketing-context.md exists, read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for what's missing.

Gather this context:

1. Current State

• Do you have pricing today? If so: what plans, what price points, what's the billing model?
• What's your conversion rate from trial/free to paid? (If known)
• What's your average revenue per customer?
• What's your monthly churn rate?

2. Business Context

• Product type: B2B or B2C? Self-serve or sales-assisted?
• Customer segments: who are your best customers vs. casual users?
• Competitors: who do customers compare you to, and what do those cost?
• Cost structure: what does serving one customer cost you per month?

3. Goals

• Are you designing, optimizing, or planning a price increase?
• Any constraints? (e.g., grandfathered customers, contractual limits, channel partner margins)

How This Skill Works

Mode 1: Design Pricing From Scratch

Starting without a pricing model, or rebuilding entirely. We'll work through value metric selection, tier structure, price point research, and pricing page design.

Mode 2: Optimize Existing Pricing

Pricing exists but conversion is low, expansion is flat, or customers feel mispriced. We'll audit what's there, benchmark, and identify specific improvements.

Mode 3: Plan a Price Increase

Prices need to go up — because of inflation, value improvements, or market repositioning. We'll design a strategy that increases revenue without burning customers.

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The Three Pricing Axes

Every pricing decision lives across three axes. Get all three right.

         ┌─────────────────┐
         │   PACKAGING     │  What's in each tier?
         │  (what you get) │
         └────────┬────────┘
                  │
         ┌────────┴────────┐
         │  VALUE METRIC   │  What do you charge for?
         │ (how it scales) │
         └────────┬────────┘
                  │
         ┌────────┴────────┐
         │  PRICE POINT    │  How much?
         │    (the number) │
         └─────────────────┘

Most teams skip straight to price point. That's backwards. Lock in the metric first, then packaging, then test the number.

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Value Metric Selection

Your value metric determines how pricing scales with customer value. Choose wrong and you either leave money on the table or create friction that kills growth.

Common Value Metrics for SaaS

Metric	Best For	Example
Per seat / user	Collaboration tools, CRMs	Salesforce, Notion, Linear
Per usage	API tools, infrastructure, AI	Stripe, Twilio, OpenAI
Per feature	Platform plays, add-ons	Intercom, HubSpot
Flat fee	Unlimited-feel, SMB tools	Basecamp, Calendly Basic
Per outcome	High-value, measurable ROI	Commission-based tools
Hybrid	Mix of above	Most mature SaaS

How to Choose

Answer these questions:

1. What makes a customer willing to pay more? → That's your value metric
2. Does the metric scale with their success? → If they grow, you grow
3. Is it easy to understand? → Complexity kills conversion
4. Is it hard to game? → Customers shouldn't be able to work around it

Red flags:

• "Per seat" in a tool where one power user does all the work → seats don't scale with value
• "Flat fee" when some customers derive 10x the value of others → you're subsidizing heavy users
• "Per API call" when call count varies wildly week to week → unpredictable bills = churn

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Good-Better-Best Tier Structure

Three tiers is the standard. Not because of tradition — because it anchors perception.

Tier Design Principles

Entry tier (Good):

• Captures the segment that will churn if priced higher
• Limited — either by features, usage, or support
• NOT free. Free is a separate strategy (freemium), not a tier.
• Should cover your costs at minimum

Middle tier (Better) — your default:

• This is where you push most customers
• Price: 2-3x the entry tier
• Features: everything a growing company needs
• Call it out visually as recommended

Top tier (Best):

• For high-value customers with enterprise needs
• May be "Contact us" or custom pricing
• Unlocks: SSO, audit logs, SLA, dedicated support, custom contracts
• If you have enterprise deals >$1k MRR, this tier exists to capture them

What Goes in Each Tier

Feature Category	Entry	Better	Best
Core product	✅ (limited)	✅ (full)	✅ (full)
Usage limits	Low	Medium	High / unlimited
Users/seats	1-3	5-unlimited	Unlimited
Integrations	Basic	Full	Full + custom
Reporting	Basic	Advanced	Custom
Support	Email	Priority	Dedicated CSM
Admin features	—	—	SSO, audit log, SCIM
SLA	—	—	✅

See references/pricing-models.md for model deep dives and SaaS examples.

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Value-Based Pricing

Price between the next-best alternative and your perceived value.

[Cost of doing nothing] ... [Next-best alternative] ... [YOUR PRICE] ... [Perceived value delivered]

Step 1: Define the next-best alternative

• What would the customer do if your product didn't exist?
• A competitor? A spreadsheet? Manual process? Hiring someone?
• What does that cost them?

Step 2: Estimate value delivered

• Time saved × hourly rate of the person using it
• Revenue generated or protected
• Cost of error/risk avoided
• Ask your best customers: "What would you lose if you stopped using us tomorrow?"

Step 3: Price in the middle

• A rough heuristic: price at 10-20% of documented value delivered
• Don't price at 50% of value — customers feel they're overpaying
• Don't price below the next-best alternative — signals you don't believe in your own product

Conversion rate as a signal:

• 40% trial-to-paid: likely underpriced — test a price increase

• 15-30%: healthy for most SaaS
• <10%: pricing may be high, or trial-to-paid funnel has friction

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Pricing Research Methods

Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter

Four questions, asked to current customers or target segment:

1. At what price would this product be so cheap you'd question its quality?
2. At what price would this product be a bargain — great deal?
3. At what price would this product start to feel expensive — still acceptable?
4. At what price would this product be too expensive to consider?

Interpret the results: Plot the four curves. The intersection of "too cheap" and "too expensive" gives your acceptable price range. The intersection of "bargain" and "expensive" gives the optimal price point.

When to use: B2B SaaS, n≥30 respondents, existing customers or qualified prospects.

MaxDiff Analysis

Show respondents sets of features/prices and ask which they value most and least. Statistical analysis reveals relative value of each feature — informs packaging more than price point.

When to use: When deciding which features to put in which tier.

Competitor Benchmarking

Step	What to Do
1	List direct competitors and alternatives customers consider
2	Record their published pricing (plan names, prices, value metrics)
3	Note what's included at each price point
4	Identify where your product over- and under-delivers vs. each
5	Price relative to positioning: premium = 20-40% above market, value = at or below

Don't just copy competitor prices — their pricing reflects their cost structure and positioning, not yours.

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Price Increase Strategies

Raising prices is one of the highest-ROI moves available to SaaS companies. Most wait too long.

Strategy Selection

Strategy	Use When	Risk
New customers only	Significant pushback expected	Low — doesn't touch existing base
Grandfather + delayed	Loyal customer base, contract risk	Medium — existing customers feel respected
Tied to value delivery	Clear new features/improvement	Low — justifiable
Plan restructure	Significant packaging change	Medium — complexity for customers
Uniform increase	Confident in value, price is clearly below market	Medium-High

Execution Checklist

1. Quantify the move: Calculate new MRR at 100%, 80%, 70% retention of existing customers
2. Segment by risk: Annual contracts, champions vs. detractors, usage-based at-risk accounts
3. Set the date: 60-90 days notice for existing customers. 30 days minimum.
4. Communicate the reason: New features, rising costs, investment in [X] — be specific
5. Offer a path: Lock in current price for annual commitment, or give a 3-month window
6. Arm your CS team: FAQ, talking points, approved offer authority
7. Monitor for 60 days: Churn rate, downgrade rate, support ticket volume

Expected churn from a 20-30% price increase: 5-15%. If your net revenue impact is positive, proceed.

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Pricing Page Design

The pricing page converts intent to purchase. Design it with that job in mind.

Above the Fold

Must have:

• Plan names (simple: Starter / Pro / Enterprise, or named after customer segment)
• Price with billing toggle (monthly/annual — annual should show savings)
• 3-5 bullet differentiators per plan
• CTA button per plan
• "Most popular" badge on recommended tier

Below the Fold

• Full feature comparison table — comprehensive, scannable, uses ✅ and ❌ not walls of text
• FAQ section — address the 5 objections that stop people from buying:
  • "Can I cancel anytime?"
  • "What happens when I hit limits?"
  • "Do you offer refunds?"
  • "Is my data secure?"
  • "What if I need to upgrade/downgrade?"
• Social proof — logos, quotes, or case studies relevant to each tier
• Security badges if B2B enterprise (SOC2, ISO 27001, GDPR)

Annual vs. Monthly Toggle

• Show annual pricing by default (or highlight it) — it improves LTV
• Show savings explicitly: "Save 20%" or "2 months free"
• Don't hide the monthly price — hiding it builds distrust

See references/pricing-page-playbook.md for design specs and copy templates.

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Proactive Triggers

Surface these without being asked:

• Conversion rate >40% trial-to-paid → Strong signal of underpricing. Flag: test 20-30% price increase.
• All customers on the middle tier → No upsell path. Flag: enterprise tier needed or feature lock-in missing.
• Customer asked for features that aren't in their tier → Expansion revenue being left on the table. Flag: feature gatekeeping review.
• Churn rate >5% monthly → Before raising prices, fix churn. Price increases accelerate churners.
• Price hasn't changed in 2+ years → Inflation alone justifies 10-15% increase. Flag for strategic review.
• Only one pricing option → No anchoring, no upsell. Flag: add a third tier even if rarely purchased.

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Output Artifacts

When you ask for...	You get...
"Design pricing"	Three-tier structure with value metric, feature grid, price points, and rationale
"Audit my pricing"	Pricing scorecard (0-100), conversion rate benchmarks, gap analysis, quick wins
"Plan a price increase"	Increase strategy selection, communication templates, risk model, 90-day rollout plan
"Design a pricing page"	Above-fold layout spec, feature comparison table structure, CTA copy, FAQ copy
"Research pricing"	Van Westendorp survey questions + MaxDiff framework for your specific product
"Model pricing scenarios"	Run scripts/pricing_modeler.py with your inputs

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Communication

All output follows the structured communication standard:

• Bottom line first — recommendation before justification
• What + Why + How — every recommendation has all three
• Actions have owners and deadlines — no vague "consider"
• Confidence tagging — 🟢 verified benchmark / 🟡 estimated / 🔴 assumed

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Related Skills

• product-strategist: Use for product roadmap and broader monetization strategy. NOT for pricing page or price increase execution.
• copywriting: Use for pricing page copy polish. NOT for pricing structure or tier design.
• churn-prevention: Use when churn is the underlying issue — fix retention before raising prices.
• ab-test-setup: Use to A/B test price points or pricing page layouts after initial design.
• customer-success-manager: Use for expansion revenue through upselling. NOT for pricing design or packaging.
• competitor-alternatives: Use for competitive comparison pages that complement pricing pages.