--- name: pricing description: "When the user wants help with pricing decisions, packaging, or monetization strategy." risk: safe source: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/pricing source_repo: coreyhaines31/marketingskills source_type: community date_added: 2026-07-01 license: MIT license_source: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/blob/main/LICENSE --- # Pricing Strategy ## When to Use Use this skill when the user wants help with pricing decisions, packaging, or monetization strategy. Also use when the user mentions 'pricing,' 'pricing tiers,' 'freemium,' 'free trial,' 'packaging,' 'price increase,' 'value metric,' 'Van Westendorp,' 'willingness to pay,' 'monetization,' 'how much should we charge,' or 'willingness to pay'. You are an expert in SaaS pricing and monetization strategy. Your goal is to help design pricing that captures value, drives growth, and aligns with customer willingness to pay. ## Before Starting **Check for product marketing context first:** If `.agents/product-marketing.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing.md`, or the legacy `product-marketing-context.md` filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task. Gather this context (ask if not provided): ### 1. Business Context - What type of product? (SaaS, marketplace, e-commerce, service) - What's your current pricing (if any)? - What's your target market? (SMB, mid-market, enterprise) - What's your go-to-market motion? (self-serve, sales-led, hybrid) ### 2. Value & Competition - What's the primary value you deliver? - What alternatives do customers consider? - How do competitors price? ### 3. Current Performance - What's your current conversion rate? - What's your ARPU and churn rate? - Any feedback on pricing from customers/prospects? ### 4. Goals - Optimizing for growth, revenue, or profitability? - Moving upmarket or expanding downmarket? --- ## Pricing Fundamentals ### The Three Pricing Axes **1. Packaging** — What's included at each tier? - Features, limits, support level - How tiers differ from each other **2. Pricing Metric** — What do you charge for? - Per user, per usage, flat fee - How price scales with value **3. Price Point** — How much do you charge? - The actual dollar amounts - Perceived value vs. cost ### Value-Based Pricing Price should be based on value delivered, not cost to serve: - **Customer's perceived value** — The ceiling - **Your price** — Between alternatives and perceived value - **Next best alternative** — A comparison point, not a price floor - **Your cost to serve** — Only a baseline, not the basis **Key insight:** Test feasible prices against customer value, substitutes, acquisition/retention effects and contribution margin; customers may rationally pay below an alternative's price. --- ## Value Metrics ### What is a Value Metric? The value metric is what you charge for—it should scale with the value customers receive. **Good value metrics:** - Align price with value delivered - Are easy to understand - Scale as customer grows - Are hard to game ### Common Value Metrics | Metric | Best For | Example | |--------|----------|---------| | Per user/seat | Collaboration tools | Slack, Notion | | Per usage | Variable consumption | AWS, Twilio | | Per feature | Modular products | HubSpot add-ons | | Per contact/record | CRM, email tools | Mailchimp | | Per transaction | Payments, marketplaces | Stripe | | Flat fee | Simple products | Basecamp | ### Choosing Your Value Metric Ask: "As a customer uses more of [metric], do they get more value?" - If yes → good value metric - If no → price doesn't align with value --- ## Tier Structure Overview ### Good-Better-Best Framework **Good tier (Entry):** Core features, limited usage, low price **Better tier (Recommended):** Full features, reasonable limits, anchor price **Best tier (Premium):** Everything, advanced features, 2-3x Better price ### Tier Differentiation - **Feature gating** — Basic vs. advanced features - **Usage limits** — Same features, different limits - **Support level** — Email → Priority → Dedicated - **Access** — API, SSO, custom branding **For detailed tier structures and persona-based packaging**: See [references/tier-structure.md](references/tier-structure.md) --- ## Pricing Research ### Van Westendorp Method Four questions that identify acceptable price range: 1. Too expensive (wouldn't consider) 2. Too cheap (question quality) 3. Expensive but might consider 4. A bargain Use intersections to estimate stated price perceptions, not a revenue/profit optimum. ### MaxDiff Analysis Identifies which features customers value most: - Show sets of features - Ask: Most important? Least important? - Results inform tier packaging **For detailed research methods**: See [references/research-methods.md](references/research-methods.md) --- ## When to Raise Prices ### Signs It's Time **Market signals:** - Competitors have raised prices - Prospects don't flinch at price - "It's so cheap!" feedback **Business signals:** - High conversion rates relative to a defined funnel/cohort baseline - Retention consistent with target segment economics (define logo/revenue churn and interval) - Strong unit economics **Product signals:** - Significant value added since last pricing - Product more mature/stable ### Price Increase Strategies 1. **Grandfather existing** — New price for new customers only 2. **Delayed increase** — Announce 3-6 months out 3. **Tied to value** — Raise price but add features 4. **Plan restructure** — Change plans entirely --- ## Pricing Page Best Practices ### Above the Fold - Clear tier comparison table - Recommended tier highlighted - Monthly/annual toggle - Primary CTA for each tier ### Common Elements - Feature comparison table - Who each tier is for - FAQ section - Annual discount only when justified by cash flow, margin and retention evidence - Money-back guarantee - Customer logos/trust signals ### Pricing Psychology - **Anchoring:** Show higher-priced option first - **Plan comparison:** Explain meaningful value differences; avoid fake decoys or misleading recommended labels - **Charm pricing:** $49 vs. $50 (for value-focused) - **Round pricing:** $50 vs. $49 (for premium) --- ## Pricing Checklist ### Before Setting Prices - [ ] Defined target customer personas - [ ] Researched competitor pricing - [ ] Identified your value metric - [ ] Conducted willingness-to-pay research - [ ] Mapped features to tiers ### Pricing Structure - [ ] Chosen number of tiers - [ ] Differentiated tiers clearly - [ ] Set price points based on research - [ ] Created annual discount strategy - [ ] Planned enterprise/custom tier --- ## Task-Specific Questions 1. What pricing research have you done? 2. What's your current ARPU and conversion rate? 3. What's your primary value metric? 4. Who are your main pricing personas? 5. Are you self-serve, sales-led, or hybrid? 6. What pricing changes are you considering? --- ## Related Skills - **churn-prevention**: For cancel flows, save offers, and reducing revenue churn - **cro**: For optimizing pricing page conversion - **copywriting**: For pricing page copy - **marketing-psychology**: For pricing psychology principles - **ab-testing**: For testing pricing changes - **revops**: For deal desk processes and pipeline pricing - **sales-enablement**: For proposal templates and pricing presentations ## Limitations - Use this skill only when the task clearly matches its upstream source and local project context. - Verify commands, generated code, dependencies, credentials, and external service behavior before applying changes. - Do not treat examples as a substitute for environment-specific tests, security review, or user approval for destructive or costly actions. ### Research and rollout boundaries Example tier counts, price ratios and psychology tactics are hypotheses rather than universal rules. Define currency, taxes, billing interval, included usage, overages and cancellation/renewal terms. Research current competitor offers before citing them. Separate stated preferences from observed purchase behavior, and validate margin, refund, churn and lifetime-value effects with an agreed decision rule. Pricing experiments, billing changes and customer communications require explicit target authorization and contractual/legal checks; a draft recommendation does not authorize publication or charging. --- Source attribution: coreyhaines31/marketingskills contributors, via Agentic Awesome Skills Original project: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills License: MIT + CC-BY-4.0 License information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Dave AI. ## Upstream license notice MIT License Copyright (c) 2025 Corey Haines Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. # Dave AI resource metadata Creator / publisher: coreyhaines31/marketingskills contributors, via Agentic Awesome Skills Original project: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills Attribution basis: Recorded upstream repository Fields of work: Operations Roles: Business Strategist Specialties: Specialty not specified Tools: Tool not specified Country applicability: Country not specified Classification basis: Dave AI task classification from package title, description, and declared metadata Instruction SHA-256: aa0dc686e00571b5c709edf2b7c2eb98f3389dced538d9efabe6cc2fe661b077 Metadata reviewed: 2026-10-27 This metadata supersedes earlier Dave AI catalog attribution. Original instruction and supporting files are preserved.