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independenceone source · 3 more authors in those circles
standing

contested · 4 claims against 3

applies to

b2b and consumer, no audience needed

assumes a product under $20

confidence

medium

evidence

10 claims · 6 articles · 4 receipts

window

2012-10-03 → 2023-11-26

a single source, nothing corroborates it · contested

Price low for buyers or high for cash, and choose

The same launch can end with thousands of customers and modest revenue or a few hundred customers and several times the money, and the difference is a decision made before the page goes up. An impulse level entry price gets the card out and the deluxe upgrade follows; a high price with the pain acute enough turns a handful of sales into a real month. Whichever you pick, subtract the fixed per transaction fee first, because a flat charge per sale eats an untenable share of anything under a dollar.

What both sides agree on

  • Choose the price from what you want out of the launch: a list of thousands of past buyers, or maximum cash now.
  • Reject universal pricing rules: there is no single correct number for a product like this.
  • Account for fixed per-transaction fees before pricing low: a flat charge per sale eats an untenable share of a sub-dollar price.

Where this splits

Barry and Jackson argue a near impulse price buys the customer list that pays later, while Zue and Cohen deliberately launched at the expensive end and found a few sales beat months of volume.

  1. side 01 · 4 claims

    Launch at the expensive end and take the cash

    Cory Zue · Jason Cohen · Justin Jackson

    1. 1Charging a hundred dollars instead of a few changes the arithmetic of a launch entirely; a small number of sales at a high price beats months of volume at a low one.
    2. 2Test a higher price even if it halves your unit sales, because total revenue can still go up.
    3. 3Charge more when the pain is acute; urgency itself creates pricing room.
    4. 4Launch as the expensive option and delay the affordable version until your costs come down, treating the luxury position as a deliberate first step rather than a compromise.

  2. side 02 · 3 claims

    Price near impulse level to buy the customer list

    Justin Jackson · Nathan Barry

    1. 1Price low if what you want is customer count: a near-impulse price buys thousands of buyers you can sell to later.
    2. 2An impulse-level entry price gets the decision made, and the upgrade to the deluxe version follows once the card is already out.
    3. 3Charge a deliberately small price on your first product or engagement, against the usual advice to charge more, because you have no reputation to justify a high rate yet.

What it returned

  • $3

    $3 with a $6 deluxe tier (later $6 and $12) produced roughly 4,000 customers and about $16,000 over six months

  • 4,000

    Sacha ended with roughly 4,000 customers, Nathan with 380

  • $3

    Hacker News commenters said $3 was an instant yes and then immediately took the $6 version with the source files

  • $10

    Justin's suggested first step is persuading five people to attend a live workshop at $10 each; his own first product was a small ebook, Amplification, released in October 2013.

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.