# Pricing strategy Human Guide ## What This Is For When the user wants help with pricing decisions, packaging, or monetization strategy. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for go-to-market work: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return. Use this as a human-readable version of the Pricing strategy agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions. ## When To Use This - Use this when you need a repeatable process for pricing strategy. - Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt. - Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact. ## When Not To Use This - Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer. - Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant. - Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review. ## What You Need Before Starting - The goal or business outcome you want. - The audience, customer segment, or market context. - Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance. - Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements. - A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like. ## Step-By-Step Workflow 1. State the job clearly: "Use the Pricing strategy guide to help me with..." 2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints. 3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output. 4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below. 5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed. ## Skill-Specific Guidance - Too expensive — would not buy - Too cheap — would question quality - Expensive but would consider - PMC (Point of Marginal Cheapness): "Too cheap" × "Expensive" → lower bound - PME (Point of Marginal Expensiveness): "Too expensive" × "Cheap" → upper bound - OPP (Optimal Price Point): "Too cheap" × "Too expensive" → best price - IDP (Indifference Price Point): "Expensive" × "Cheap" → acceptable midpoint - **Gabor-Granger**: Show price → "Would you buy at $X?" (Yes/No). Vary price across respondents to build demand curve. - **Conjoint analysis**: Show bundles at different prices; respondents choose preferred option. - Scale limits: users, projects, API calls, storage - Sophistication: advanced analytics, automations, integrations - Control: SSO/SAML, admin roles, audit logs, custom branding ## Decision Points And Nuance The original skill emphasizes: Workspace Context, Operating Contract, Before Starting, Pricing Fundamentals, Pricing Models, Value Metrics, Pricing Research Methods, Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter, MaxDiff / Feature Importance, Willingness to Pay. Use these questions to steer the work: - What is the intended audience or buyer? - What source material must be preserved? - What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion? - What examples represent the desired quality bar? - What should the assistant avoid? ## Common Mistakes - Cost avoidance: [errors prevented × cost per error × 12] - Show sets of 4–5 features; ask "most important" and "least important." Results rank features by utility score: - **Never gate**: core functionality, security features, data export. - **Never discount when**: customer hasn't articulated value, no competitive pressure, early in negotiation, or deal doesn't meet minimum size. - Feature gates customers don't care about - Never testing or iterating on pricing - [ ] "No credit card required" (if free trial) ## Copy-And-Paste Prompt ```text Use the Pricing strategy human guide. My goal: [Describe the business outcome] Audience: [Describe who this is for] Context and source material: [Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy] Constraints: [Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items] Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result. ``` ## Final Checklist - [ ] The output matches the original goal. - [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer. - [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved. - [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit. - [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person. ## Source This guide was generated from the manojbajaj95/claude-gtm-plugin skill entry for `pricing-strategy`. ## Source Skill Notes These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic. # Pricing Strategy ## Workspace Context Read bootstrap context before asking questions: `strategy/brand.md` for brand, audience, offer, channels, tools, constraints, and metrics; `about/me.md` for personal voice; `content/ideas.md` and `content/calendar.md` for content planning. Use legacy product-marketing context files only as fallback. Save generated drafts to `content//drafts/YYYY-MM-DD_short-topic-slug.md`, and route durable learnings back to `strategy/brand.md`, `about/me.md`, or `content/ideas.md`. ## Operating Contract This skill is self-contained for its frontmatter scope: use its local instructions, references, scripts, and assets as the playbook; ask only for missing task-specific inputs; hand off to adjacent skills instead of expanding scope; and return an actionable artifact, decision, plan, draft, or diagnostic. Expert guidance on SaaS pricing, value metrics, tier structure, pricing research, and monetization. ## Before Starting Gather: product type, target market (SMB/mid-market/enterprise), GTM motion (self-serve/sales-led/hybrid), primary value delivered, competitive pricing, current conversion rate and ARPU, pricing goals (growth vs. revenue vs. profitability). --- ## Pricing Fundamentals **Three axes**: Packaging (what's in each tier) + Value metric (what you charge for) + Price point (the amount). **Core principle**: 1% improvement in pricing = 11% improvement in profit (McKinsey). Price to value, not cost. **Value-based pricing**: Price between the next best alternative and perceived value. Cost is a floor, not a basis. ``` Perceived value of your solution: $1,000 Your price: $500 ← capture value here Next best alternative: $300 ← your floor Your cost to serve: $50 ``` **Value calculation template**: ``` Time savings: [hours/week × hourly rate × 52] Revenue impact: [additional deals × deal value × 12] Cost avoidance: [errors prevented × cost per error × 12] Total annual value: $____ Suggested price: $[10% of value] – $[20% of value] / year ``` --- ## Pricing Models | Model | Pros | Cons | |-------|------|------| | **Flat Rate** ($99/mo, unlimited) | Simple to sell | Leaves money on table | | **Tiered** (Starter/Pro/Business) | Captures segments, clear upsell | Anchor pricing matters | | **Usage-Based** ($0.01/call) | Perfect value alignment, low barrier | Unpredictable revenue | | **Hybrid** ($49/mo + $0.50/extra user) | Predictable base + scales | More complex to explain | --- ## Value Metrics The value metric is what you charge for — it should scale with the value customers receive. | Metric | Best For | Examples | |--------|----------|---------| | Per user/seat | Collaboration tools | Slack, Notion | | Per usage/consumption | Variable workloads | AWS, Twilio | | Per contact/record | CRM, email tools | Mailchimp, HubSpot | | Per transaction | Payments, marketplaces | Stripe, Shopify | | Flat fee | Simple, bounded products | Basecamp | | Revenue share | High-value outcome tools | Affiliate platforms | **Choosing your metric**: Analyze which usage patterns predict retention and expansion in your highest-LTV customers. If "more of X = more value," X is your metric. --- ## Pricing Research Methods ### Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter Ask 100–300 respondents four questions: 1. Too expensive — would not buy