cmj-hub Pricing Reference Frames — sub-skill
The anchor design engine. Most pricing pages anchor on competitor cost — the weakest frame in the stack. This sub-skill picks the strongest plausible frame and writes the copy block that puts it on the page.
Activation
Routed here when operator says:
- "How do I anchor my pricing?"
- "What should my pricing page say above the tiers?"
- "Rewrite my pricing copy"
- "What's my reference frame?"
- "Apply loss aversion to my pricing"
The reference-frame stack
1. Inertia / status quo ← strongest, use this first
2. Opportunity cost
3. Replacement cost
4. Competitor cost ← weakest, default of most pages
Frame 1 — Inertia / status quo
What is the buyer doing TODAY to solve this problem? That's the real reference frame. Quantify the cost of doing nothing.
Inertia anchors look like:
"Right now, you're solving this with a contractor + spreadsheet
- 3 Slack channels — that's ~12 hours/week of founder time at $200/hr loaded = $124,800/year."
Or for SaaS:
"Your current stack: $300/mo HubSpot CRM + $200/mo Pipedrive for sales + 6 hours/week of manual data sync = $14,000/year + 312 founder-hours/year. Our $499/mo replaces all three."
Frame 2 — Opportunity cost
What does the buyer lose by NOT solving this? Time, market position, pipeline.
Opportunity-cost anchors look like:
"Every week you delay shipping pricing changes = 1 fewer customer onboarded at the new ACV = $30,000/year of compounding ARR you never get back."
Frame 3 — Replacement cost
What does it cost to build/staff the alternative internally?
Replacement-cost anchors look like:
"If you built this internally: 2 engineers × 6 months × $250K loaded = $250K to ship + $80K/year to maintain. Or you can use ours at $1,200/year."
Frame 4 — Competitor cost (LAST RESORT)
Only if there's no plausible inertia / opportunity / replacement frame, and the competitor is well-known and obviously similar. Even then — anchor by VALUE, not price.
Competitor-frame example (acceptable):
"Like X but with built-in PSP segmentation and quarterly review baked in."
Competitor-frame example (banned):
"$X cheaper than Competitor Y." (See
pricing-banned-patterns.md.)
Workflow
1. Gather PSP + current state
From brand-config.json:
customer.psps[]— at least one PSPpricing.currentTiers— current pricing- Optional:
customer.competitors[]
If multiple PSPs, ask: "Which PSP should we anchor for? Different PSPs may need different reference frames on different page sections."
2. Discover the inertia anchor (always start here)
Ask the operator:
- "Without your product, what does {PSP} do today to solve this? Be specific — name the tools, the headcount, the time spent."
- "What's their loaded-cost on that today?" (Time × $/hr + tool costs)
- "Quantify the time/quality/risk cost of staying with the status quo."
If the operator can't quantify inertia, this is a customer-development gap — flag it.
3. Build the opportunity-cost anchor
Ask:
- "What's at stake if {PSP} delays solving this for another quarter?"
- "What does NOT solving this cost in pipeline / market position?"
If the answer is "nothing material," the buyer doesn't actually need to buy now. Flag this — it suggests the messaging needs urgency work, not pricing work.
4. Pick the dominant frame
Pick the strongest available frame for THIS PSP:
| Available frame | Use as |
|---|---|
| Inertia ≥ replacement ≥ opportunity | Above-the-fold anchor block |
| Opportunity ≥ inertia ≥ replacement | Headline statement + chart |
| Replacement (engineers, contractors) | Calculator block + ROI |
| Only competitor | Soften to "category-leading" language; do NOT lead with $X cheaper |
5. Apply Prospect Theory
Once the frame is chosen, layer loss-aversion language:
| Instead of (gain frame) | Use (loss frame) |
|---|---|
| "Save 40% vs. internal build" | "Stop losing 312 founder-hours/year" |
| "Get to outcome X faster" | "Stop letting opportunity-cost X compound" |
| "Money-back guarantee if not satisfied" | "If we don't ship outcome X by date Y, you pay only Z" |
| "Premium support included" | "Never debug a critical pricing error alone" |
6. Generate the anchor block
Output a complete above-the-tier-cards copy block:
Headline (1-2 lines, ≤14 words):
{Anchor on chosen frame, loss-coded if possible}
Subhead (1-2 lines, ≤22 words):
{Quantify the frame with a specific number}
Mechanism (3-line bullet list, ≤8 words each):
- {How we replace / reduce / eliminate the inertia cost}
- {What we lock-in / de-risk}
- {What outcome ships}
Guarantee (1 sentence, ≤30 words):
{Outcome-tied guarantee with bounded liability — never open-ended}
7. Self-check
- Frame chosen is highest in the stack that's plausibly true
- Anchor is quantified (specific number, not vague)
- Loss-coded language above gain-coded language
- Guarantee is outcome-tied, not satisfaction-tied
- No banned patterns (cost-plus reasoning, "we're cheaper than X")
Output format
Reference-Frame Recommendation — {PSP}
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
CHOSEN FRAME: {frame name + rationale}
ANCHOR COPY BLOCK:
[headline]
[subhead]
[mechanism bullets]
[guarantee]
REJECTED FRAMES:
- {frame}: {why not for this PSP}
LOSS-AVERSION APPLICATION:
- Replaced gain-coded line {X} with loss-coded line {Y}
- Replaced open-ended guarantee with outcome-tied
References
../../pricing/references/pricing-framework.md— full reference-frame stack../../pricing/references/pricing-banned-patterns.md— what to avoid../pricing-contrast-set/SKILL.md— next: design the tier cards under the anchor