Iblai Marketing Pricing Strategy

/iblai-marketing-pricing-strategy

Design pricing that captures value, drives growth, and aligns with customer willingness to pay.

Step 0: Context Check

Read .agents/product-marketing-context.md (or .claude/product-marketing-context.md on older setups) first. Only ask for what isn't there.

Pull this context:

1. Business Context

• Product type (SaaS, marketplace, e-commerce, service)
• Current pricing (if any)
• Target market (SMB, mid-market, enterprise)
• GTM motion (self-serve, sales-led, hybrid)

2. Value & Competition

• Primary value you deliver
• Alternatives customers consider
• How competitors price

3. Current Performance

• Current conversion rate
• ARPU and churn rate
• Customer/prospect 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
• 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?

• Actual dollar amounts
• Perceived value vs. cost

Value-Based Pricing

Price on value delivered, not cost to serve:

• Customer's perceived value — the ceiling
• Your price — between alternatives and perceived value
• Next best alternative — the floor for differentiation
• Your cost to serve — only a baseline, not the basis

Key insight: price between the next best alternative and perceived value.

Value Metrics

What is a Value Metric?

What you charge for. It should scale with the value customers receive.

Good value metrics:

• Align price with value delivered
• Easy to understand
• Scale as the customer grows
• Hard to game

Common Value Metrics

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

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

Tier structures and persona-based packaging: references/tier-structure.md.

Pricing Research

Van Westendorp Method

Four questions that identify the 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 the optimal pricing zone.

MaxDiff Analysis

Identifies which features customers value most:

• Show sets of features
• Ask: most important? Least important?
• Results inform tier packaging

Detailed research methods: 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:

• Very high conversion rates (>40%)
• Very low churn (<3% monthly)
• Strong unit economics

Product signals:

• Significant value added since last pricing
• Product is 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 callout (17-20%)
• Money-back guarantee
• Customer logos / trust signals

Pricing Psychology

• Anchoring: show higher-priced option first
• Decoy effect: middle tier should be best value
• 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. Pricing research done?
2. Current ARPU and conversion rate?
3. Primary value metric?
4. Main pricing personas?
5. Self-serve, sales-led, or hybrid?
6. Pricing changes you're considering?

Related Skills

• iblai-marketing-churn-prevention: Cancel flows, save offers, reducing revenue churn
• iblai-marketing-page-cro: Pricing page conversion
• iblai-marketing-copywriting: Pricing page copy
• iblai-marketing-psychology: Pricing psychology principles
• iblai-marketing-ab-test-setup: Testing pricing changes
• iblai-marketing-revops: Deal desk processes and pipeline pricing
• iblai-marketing-sales-enablement: Proposal templates and pricing presentations