3 builders who never spoke to each other
Decide who you are for, and price everyone else out
A price aimed at everybody is aimed at nobody, and the cheapest segment is usually the one that churns hardest and substitutes a free tool the moment you raise anything. Name the buyer with a test they can apply to themselves, such as monthly order volume or stated skill level, and let the rest self-select out. The narrower the definition, the easier every later pricing decision becomes.
The method
- 01
Define who you are affordable for by an operational threshold your buyer can check against themselves, such as monthly order volume, rather than by company size or job title.
- 02
Beginner segments look attractive because they sign up for anything free, but they will substitute a free tool, cannot pay expert rates, and mostly go out of business, so lifetime value stays low.
- 03
Position a course at a stated level rather than at everyone. Natividad deliberately built Content Marketing 201 as intermediate, which rules experts out and makes the curriculum coherent.
- 04
Settle who you're selling to before you set a price, because the target customer dictates both the marketing and the shape of the pricing.
- 05
Aim a premium priced product at the wealthiest markets, Switzerland, UAE, US and Singapore, instead of pricing for everyone.
What it returned
The affordability promise was aimed at any business past a few hundred monthly orders.
Patrick Campbell of Price Intelligently: nail customer focus and your value metric early and you can get most other things wrong.
Sources
- Don't sell to beginnersJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Don't sell to beginners · undated
- @levelsio's blogPieter Levels · levels.io · If you wanna get rich fastest make a premium product for Switzerland UAE US and Singapore · 2024-06-07
- Amanda Natividad — Mastering Content Creation and Audience Engagement – The Bootstrapped FounderAmanda Natividad · thebootstrappedfounder.com · 2023-12-06
- 2020 Year in ReviewPreetam Nath · preetamnath.com · Started a new business with a bigger mission called DelightChat · 2020-12-27
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.
More in pricing
- Make them pay before the thing exists8 unconnected · contested
- Decide whether a free tier earns its keep7 unconnected · contested
- Put a cheap rung below the expensive offer7 unconnected · contested
- Undercutting alone is not a position7 unconnected · contested
- Turn the service into a product with a public price7 unconnected
- Charge for the result, not the hours6 unconnected · contested