Pricing Strategy

Pricing Strategy

Overview

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.

Check for product marketing context first: If .claude/product-marketing-context.md exists, read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Instructions

Initial Context Gathering

Gather this context (ask if not provided):

1. Business Context - Product type (SaaS, marketplace, e-commerce, service)? Current pricing? Target market (SMB, mid-market, enterprise)? Go-to-market motion (self-serve, sales-led, hybrid)?
2. Value & Competition - Primary value delivered? Alternatives customers consider? How competitors price?
3. Current Performance - Conversion rate? ARPU and churn rate? Customer feedback on pricing?
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)
2. Pricing Metric - What you charge for (per user, per usage, flat fee)
3. Price Point - The actual dollar amounts (perceived value vs. cost)

Value-Based Pricing: Price based on value delivered, not cost to serve. The customer's perceived value sets the ceiling. The next best alternative sets the floor. Your price goes between those two points.

Value Metrics

The value metric is what you charge for. It should scale with the value customers receive.

Ask: "As a customer uses more of [metric], do they get more value?" If yes, it is a good value metric.

Tier Structure

Good-Better-Best Framework:

• Good (Entry): Core features, limited usage, low price
• Better (Recommended): Full features, reasonable limits, anchor price
• Best (Premium): Everything, advanced features, 2-3x Better price

Differentiate tiers by: Feature gating, usage limits, support level (email to priority to dedicated), access (API, SSO, custom branding).

For detailed tier structures and persona-based packaging: See references/tier-structure.md

Pricing Research

Van Westendorp Method - Four questions to identify acceptable price range:

1. Too expensive (wouldn't consider)
2. Too cheap (question quality)
3. Expensive but might consider
4. A bargain

Analyze intersections to find optimal pricing zone.

MaxDiff Analysis - Show sets of features, ask most/least important. Results inform tier packaging.

For detailed research methods: See references/research-methods.md

When to Raise Prices

Signs it's time: Competitors have raised prices, prospects don't flinch at price, very high conversion rates (>40%), very low churn (<3%), significant value added since last pricing.

Strategies: Grandfather existing customers, delayed increase (announce 3-6 months out), tied to value (raise price but add features), full plan restructure.

Pricing Page Best Practices

• Clear tier comparison table with recommended tier highlighted
• Monthly/annual toggle with 17-20% annual discount callout
• Primary CTA for each tier, FAQ section, customer logos/trust signals
• Psychology: Anchoring (show higher first), decoy effect (middle tier best value), charm pricing ($49 vs $50 for value), round pricing ($50 vs $49 for premium)

Pricing Checklist

Before setting prices: Define target personas, research competitor pricing, identify value metric, conduct willingness-to-pay research, map features to tiers.

Pricing structure: Choose number of tiers, differentiate clearly, set price points from research, create annual discount strategy, plan enterprise/custom tier.

Examples

Example 1: Pricing Strategy for a Project Management SaaS

User prompt: "We're launching a project management tool for marketing teams. We have 200 beta users on a free plan. Need to design our paid pricing before public launch."

The agent will gather context on the product's value metric and competitive landscape, then deliver:

• Recommended value metric analysis: per-seat pricing aligns best since more team members equals more value delivered
• Three-tier Good-Better-Best structure: Starter at $12/user/month (5 user minimum, basic boards and timelines), Pro at $24/user/month (unlimited users, automations, integrations, priority support), Enterprise at custom pricing (SSO, audit logs, dedicated CSM)
• Annual discount of 20% to incentivize commitment and reduce churn
• Competitive positioning analysis against Asana, Monday.com, and ClickUp
• Grandfather beta users on a lifetime 50% discount to reward early adopters and generate case studies
• Pricing page wireframe recommendations with the Pro tier highlighted as "Most Popular"

Example 2: Price Increase Strategy for an Email Marketing Platform

User prompt: "We run an email marketing platform charging $29/month for up to 5,000 contacts. Our churn is 2.1% monthly and conversion rate is 48%. We've added AI subject line testing, advanced automations, and deliverability monitoring since the last price change 2 years ago. How should we raise prices?"

The agent will analyze the strong unit economics signals (high conversion, low churn) and recommend:

• Increase from $29 to $39/month for new customers, justified by 3 major feature additions
• Grandfather existing customers at $29 for 6 months, then move to $34 (partial increase)
• Communication plan: announce 90 days before change, frame around new AI features and value added
• Create a new lower-tier plan at $19/month with limited contacts and no AI features to capture price-sensitive segment
• A/B test the pricing page with new price points before full rollout
• Expected impact modeling: 10-15% conversion rate decrease offset by 34% revenue-per-customer increase

Guidelines

• Always check .claude/product-marketing-context.md before asking discovery questions
• Base pricing recommendations on value delivered to customers, never on cost to serve
• Always recommend a value metric that scales with the value the customer receives
• Use the Good-Better-Best framework as the default tier structure unless the product clearly warrants a different approach
• Recommend pricing research (Van Westendorp or MaxDiff) before finalizing price points rather than guessing
• When recommending price increases, always include a communication strategy and a plan for existing customers
• Highlight the annual discount strategy as a churn reduction tool, not just a revenue tactic
• Avoid recommending more than 4 tiers as decision paralysis reduces conversion rates
• Always consider the go-to-market motion: self-serve products need simple transparent pricing, sales-led products can use custom enterprise pricing