Pricing Strategy
Design a pricing strategy grounded in value delivery, competitive positioning, and willingness to pay.
Context
You are developing a pricing strategy for $ARGUMENTS.
If the user provides files (competitor pricing, survey data, financial models, or usage data), read them first. Use web search to research competitor pricing if needed.
Instructions
Understand the value delivered:
- What is the core value proposition?
- What is the customer's alternative (and its cost)?
- What quantifiable outcomes does the product deliver? (time saved, revenue gained, cost reduced)
- What is the customer's willingness to pay based on that value?
Evaluate pricing models — recommend the best fit:
| Model |
Best For |
Example |
| Flat-rate |
Simple products, predictable costs |
Basecamp ($99/mo flat) |
| Per-seat |
Collaboration tools, team products |
Slack, Figma |
| Usage-based |
Infrastructure, API products |
AWS, Twilio |
| Tiered |
Products with distinct user segments |
Most SaaS (Free/Pro/Enterprise) |
| Freemium |
Products with viral/network effects |
Spotify, Notion |
| Freemium + usage |
Platform products |
Vercel, OpenAI API |
| Value-based |
High-impact enterprise tools |
Salesforce, Palantir |
Analyze competitive pricing:
- Map competitor pricing tiers and what's included
- Identify where your product sits (premium, mid-market, budget)
- Find pricing gaps or opportunities
- Note any industry pricing conventions
Design the pricing structure:
- Tiers: Define 2-4 tiers with clear differentiation
- Feature gating: Which features go in which tier? (Use value metrics, not arbitrary limits)
- Value metric: What unit do you charge on? (users, events, storage, API calls)
- Anchor pricing: Set the most popular tier to feel like the obvious choice
- Annual discount: Typically 15-20% off monthly pricing
Estimate price sensitivity:
- Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter (if survey data available):
- Too cheap → quality concerns
- Cheap → good value
- Expensive → starting to hesitate
- Too expensive → won't buy
- Alternatively, estimate based on competitor pricing and value delivered
Plan pricing experiments:
- A/B test pricing pages (different price points, tier names, feature bundles)
- Founder-led sales conversations to test willingness to pay
- Landing page tests with different price anchors
- Cohort analysis of conversion rates by price point
Output a pricing recommendation:
Recommended Model: [Model type]
Value Metric: [What you charge on]
| Tier | Price | Target Segment | Key Features | Positioning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Key Assumptions:
- [Assumption] → [How to test]
Risks:
- [Risk] → [Mitigation]
Think step by step. Save as markdown. Flag any assumptions that need validation before launch.
Further Reading
Source: phuryn/pm-skills → pm-product-strategy/skills/pricing-strategy/SKILL.md
1---2name: pricing-strategy-23description: Analyze and design pricing strategies including pricing models, competitive pricing analysis, willingness-to-pay estimation, and price elasticity. Use when setting prices, evaluating pricing models, preparing for a pricing change, or comparing freemium vs paid approaches.4---5
6
7## Pricing Strategy
8
9Design a pricing strategy grounded in value delivery, competitive positioning, and willingness to pay.
10
11### Context
12
13You are developing a pricing strategy for **$ARGUMENTS**.
14
15If the user provides files (competitor pricing, survey data, financial models, or usage data), read them first. Use web search to research competitor pricing if needed.
16
17### Instructions
18
191. **Understand the value delivered**:
20 - What is the core value proposition?
21 - What is the customer's alternative (and its cost)?
22 - What quantifiable outcomes does the product deliver? (time saved, revenue gained, cost reduced)
23 - What is the customer's willingness to pay based on that value?
24
252. **Evaluate pricing models** — recommend the best fit:
26
27 | Model | Best For | Example |
28 |---|---|---|
29 | **Flat-rate** | Simple products, predictable costs | Basecamp ($99/mo flat) |
30 | **Per-seat** | Collaboration tools, team products | Slack, Figma |
31 | **Usage-based** | Infrastructure, API products | AWS, Twilio |
32 | **Tiered** | Products with distinct user segments | Most SaaS (Free/Pro/Enterprise) |
33 | **Freemium** | Products with viral/network effects | Spotify, Notion |
34 | **Freemium + usage** | Platform products | Vercel, OpenAI API |
35 | **Value-based** | High-impact enterprise tools | Salesforce, Palantir |
36
373. **Analyze competitive pricing**:
38 - Map competitor pricing tiers and what's included
39 - Identify where your product sits (premium, mid-market, budget)
40 - Find pricing gaps or opportunities
41 - Note any industry pricing conventions
42
434. **Design the pricing structure**:
44 - **Tiers**: Define 2-4 tiers with clear differentiation
45 - **Feature gating**: Which features go in which tier? (Use value metrics, not arbitrary limits)
46 - **Value metric**: What unit do you charge on? (users, events, storage, API calls)
47 - **Anchor pricing**: Set the most popular tier to feel like the obvious choice
48 - **Annual discount**: Typically 15-20% off monthly pricing
49
505. **Estimate price sensitivity**:
51 - Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter (if survey data available):
52 - Too cheap → quality concerns
53 - Cheap → good value
54 - Expensive → starting to hesitate
55 - Too expensive → won't buy
56 - Alternatively, estimate based on competitor pricing and value delivered
57
586. **Plan pricing experiments**:
59 - A/B test pricing pages (different price points, tier names, feature bundles)
60 - Founder-led sales conversations to test willingness to pay
61 - Landing page tests with different price anchors
62 - Cohort analysis of conversion rates by price point
63
647. **Output a pricing recommendation**:
65 ```
66 Recommended Model: [Model type]
67 Value Metric: [What you charge on]
68
69 | Tier | Price | Target Segment | Key Features | Positioning |
70 |---|---|---|---|---|
71
72 Key Assumptions:
73 - [Assumption] → [How to test]
74
75 Risks:
76 - [Risk] → [Mitigation]
77 ```
78
79Think step by step. Save as markdown. Flag any assumptions that need validation before launch.
80
81---
82
83### Further Reading
84
85- [Product Pricing Strategies 101](https://www.productcompass.pm/p/product-pricing-strategies-101)
86- [The AI Product Pricing Masterclass: OpenAI Product Lead on Why SaaS Pricing Fails in AI (and How to Fix It)](https://www.productcompass.pm/p/ai-product-pricing) (video course)
87
88---
89
90**Source:** [`phuryn/pm-skills`](https://github.com/phuryn/pm-skills) → `pm-product-strategy/skills/pricing-strategy/SKILL.md`
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