pricing-strategy

Pricing Strategy

Production-grade SaaS pricing framework covering the three pricing axes (value metric, packaging, price point), value-based pricing methodology, tier architecture, pricing research methods, pricing page design, price increase execution, and competitive pricing positioning. Pricing is positioning -- the right price communicates as much about your product as your marketing does.

Core Capabilities

• Three pricing axes (in order) — lock the value metric (how it scales), then packaging (what's in each tier), then test the price point (the number). Most teams skip to price point; that is backwards.
• Value metric & tier design — select a metric that scales with customer value and is hard to game; architect Good-Better-Best tiers with deliberate feature allocation and naming.
• Value-based pricing — price inside the corridor (above the next-best alternative, below perceived value), at 10-20% of documented value delivered.
• Pricing research — Van Westendorp, MaxDiff, competitor benchmarking, willingness-to-pay interviews.
• Pricing page, price increases & competition — page design (above/below fold, annual toggle), price-increase playbook (strategy, timeline, comms, impact), competitive positioning and health diagnostics.

Use when

• The user asks to "design pricing", "set prices", or "choose a value metric"
• Pricing tiers need to be restructured (Good-Better-Best, add/remove tiers, repackage features)
• A price increase is planned and needs execution design (strategy, timing, communication, grandfathering)
• Conversion on the pricing page is flat or declining
• Freemium vs free trial decision needs to be made, or the freemium tier is cannibalizing paid
• Competitor pricing shifts require a positioning response
• The user says "our pricing feels off" or asks for a pricing audit

Clarify First

Before designing the pricing, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

• [ ] Operating mode — design from scratch, optimize existing, or price increase (each has a different validation gate and workflow)
• [ ] Value metric — how price scales (seats, usage, etc.) (must be locked before tiers and price points)
• [ ] Current pricing + the symptom — existing tiers and the specific failure, e.g. "middle tier too narrow" (optimize mode needs a named failure mode before any change)
• [ ] Target segment + willingness-to-pay — SMB vs enterprise price sensitivity (sets the value corridor and price points)

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the deliverable.

Operating Modes

• Mode 1 — Design From Scratch: No pricing exists or full rebuild needed. Work value metric → tier structure → price points → page design. Validate: value metric chosen before tier design; tiers locked before price points; price points tested against the corridor before page design.
• Mode 2 — Optimize Existing Pricing: Pricing exists but conversion is low, expansion flat, or customers feel mispriced. Audit, benchmark, find specific improvements. Validate: the diagnosis names a specific failure mode (e.g., "middle tier too narrow") before any change is proposed.
• Mode 3 — Price Increase: Prices need to go up without burning relationships. Validate: grandfather policy defined, communication window set (90+ days for annual customers), and expected churn modeled before the first notice.

References

Load the reference that matches the task — keep this file lean and pull detail on demand:

• [references/pricing-models.md](references/pricing-models.md) — the three pricing axes, value metric selection (table, criteria, red flags), tier architecture (Good-Better-Best, feature allocation, naming), and value-based pricing corridor. Read when designing or restructuring pricing.
• [references/research-and-page-design.md](references/research-and-page-design.md) — Van Westendorp, MaxDiff, competitor benchmarking, WTP interviews, pricing page design, and the freemium vs free trial decision. Read when researching willingness-to-pay or designing the page.
• [references/price-increase-and-competitive.md](references/price-increase-and-competitive.md) — price increase strategy/timeline/comms/impact, competitive position map and positioning strategy, and pricing health signals. Read when raising prices or positioning against competitors.
• [references/tools-and-diagnostics.md](references/tools-and-diagnostics.md) — output artifacts, the three Python scripts (analyzer, sensitivity calculator, increase modeler), troubleshooting table, success criteria, and anti-patterns. Read when producing deliverables, running tools, or debugging a pricing problem.

Scope & Limitations

In scope: Value metric selection, tier architecture design, price point research (Van Westendorp, competitor benchmarking, willingness-to-pay interviews), pricing page design specifications, price increase strategy and execution, freemium vs free trial decision frameworks, competitive pricing analysis and positioning, and pricing health diagnostics.

Out of scope: Pricing page visual design and CRO (use page-cro), in-app upgrade prompts and paywalls (use paywall-upgrade-cro), signup flow optimization after pricing page (use signup-flow-cro), churn intervention when churn is the root cause (use churn-prevention), and full competitive analysis beyond pricing (use competitive-teardown). Scripts do not integrate with billing systems (Stripe, Chargebee, etc.) or analytics platforms.

Limitations: Van Westendorp analysis requires minimum 30 survey respondents for statistical validity. Pricing benchmarks are based on aggregate SaaS industry data and vary significantly by vertical, company stage, and geography. Credit-based and usage-based pricing models (growing to 38% of SaaS in 2026) have different optimization dynamics than flat-rate or per-seat models. Price elasticity varies by customer segment -- enterprise buyers are less price-sensitive than SMB.

Integration Points

• page-cro -- Pricing page layout, CTA placement, and social proof design should follow page-cro best practices
• paywall-upgrade-cro -- In-app upgrade screens must reflect the same tier structure and messaging as the public pricing page
• competitive-teardown -- Competitive pricing data from teardowns feeds directly into pricing position map and tier design
• churn-prevention -- Churn analysis by price point and tier informs whether pricing is causing retention issues
• signup-flow-cro -- Signup flow design depends on pricing model (CC-required vs free trial vs freemium)
• revenue-operations -- GTM efficiency metrics (LTV:CAC, Magic Number) validate whether pricing supports unit economics

Related Skills

• page-cro -- Use for optimizing the pricing page conversion rate (layout, CTA, social proof). Not for pricing structure or tier design.
• churn-prevention -- Use when churn is the underlying issue. Fix retention before raising prices.
• competitive-teardown -- Use for comprehensive competitive analysis. Feed teardown pricing data into this skill.
• paywall-upgrade-cro -- Use for in-app upgrade prompts and paywalls. Different from public pricing page design.
• signup-flow-cro -- Use for optimizing the signup flow that follows pricing page conversion.