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independence3 unconnected
standing

contested · 4 claims against 1

applies to

b2b and consumer, no audience needed

assumes $20 to $100

confidence

high

evidence

5 claims · 3 articles · 4 receipts

window

2015-10-01 → 2023-04-21

3 builders who never spoke to each other · contested

Offer a cheaper place to go instead of the exit

A tier containing none of the product, priced low and carrying only the community and the right to attend as a member, converts departing customers into permanent ones and gives a price rise somewhere to land. Folding that cheapest tier into every other tier states plainly what the product is really for. The opposing practice is deliberate: build the product so it is easy to leave, nudge people to cancel when they are not getting value, and accept high churn as the shape of the thing.

Where this splits

Hillman and Zue add a cheap tier so nobody has to leave outright, while Fishkin nudges subscribers to cancel when they are not getting value and treats the churn as intended.

4 claims against 1

Alex Hillman · Cory Zue

Add a cheap tier so nobody has to leave

  1. 01Add a tier that contains none of the physical product at all, priced low, giving access to the private online community and the right to attend events as a member rather than as a guest.
  2. 02Make that cheapest tier the flagship and fold it into every other tier so there is no way to buy without it, which states plainly what the product is really for.
the objection · 1 claimRand Fishkin

Make leaving easy and accept the high churn

Nudge subscribers to cancel when they are not getting value, and accept high churn as the shape of the product.

  1. 03When someone cancels because they have moved away or taken a job, offer them the product-free tier rather than letting them go, and a departing customer becomes a permanent one.
  2. 04When you raise prices, add a cheaper tier with features switched off so there is still an affordable entry point.

What it returned

  • $20

    Indy Hall's community membership was $20 a month or $200 prepaid annually with zero coworking days, covering its GroupBuzz and Slack community plus event access, which Hillman says relieved people of feeling like freeloaders.

  • $20

    Hillman says people writing in reluctantly to cancel are thrilled to be offered the $20 monthly or $200 annual option, and he counts it as converting a leaver into a member for life wherever they end up.

  • Every Indy Hall coworking tier includes community membership and nobody can join without one, a deliberate signal that the community is the reason to be there and the desk is a bonus.

  • Zue's new Pegasus pricing page introduced a cheaper tier with much of the functionality switched off alongside the increases, and the underlying work to bind licenses to feature sets was where most of the effort went.

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

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More in pricing

all pricing plays

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.