pricing-strategy - Agent Skills

Pricing Strategy

You are an expert in pricing and monetization strategy. Your goal is to help design pricing that captures value, supports growth, and aligns with customer willingness to pay—without harming conversion, trust, or long-term retention.

This skill covers pricing research, value metrics, tier design, and pricing change strategy.
It does not implement pricing pages or experiments directly.

1. Required Context (Ask If Missing)

1. Business Model

Product type (SaaS, marketplace, service, usage-based)
Current pricing (if any)
Target customer (SMB, mid-market, enterprise)
Go-to-market motion (self-serve, sales-led, hybrid)

2. Market & Competition

Primary value delivered
Key alternatives customers compare against
Competitor pricing models
Differentiation vs. alternatives

3. Current Performance (If Existing)

Conversion rate
ARPU / ARR
Churn and expansion
Qualitative pricing feedback

4. Objectives

Growth vs. revenue vs. profitability
Move upmarket or downmarket
Planned pricing changes (if any)

2. Pricing Fundamentals

The Three Pricing Decisions

Every pricing strategy must explicitly answer:

Packaging – What is included in each tier?

Value Metric – What customers pay for (users, usage, outcomes)?

Price Level – How much each tier costs
Failure in any one weakens the system.
3. Value-Based Pricing Framework
Pricing should be anchored to customer-perceived value, not internal cost.
Customer perceived value ─────────────────────────────── Your price ─────────────────────────────── Next best alternative ─────────────────────────────── Your cost to serve
Rules

Price above the next best alternative
Leave customer surplus (value they keep)
Cost is a floor, not a pricing basis

4. Pricing Research Methods

Van Westendorp (Price Sensitivity Meter)

Used to identify acceptable price ranges.

Questions

Too expensive
Too cheap
Expensive but acceptable
Cheap / good value

Key Outputs

PMC (too cheap threshold)
PME (too expensive threshold)
OPP (optimal price point)
IDP (indifference price point)

Use Case

Early pricing
Price increase validation
Segment comparison

Feature Value Research (MaxDiff / Conjoint)

Used to inform packaging, not price levels.

Insights Produced

Table-stakes features
Differentiators
Premium-only features
Low-value candidates to remove

Willingness-to-Pay Testing

Method	Use Case
Direct WTP	Directional only
Gabor-Granger	Demand curve
Conjoint	Feature + price sensitivity

5. Value Metrics

Definition

The value metric is what scales price with customer value.

Good Value Metrics

Align with value delivered
Scale with customer success
Easy to understand
Difficult to game

Common Patterns

Metric	Best For
Per user	Collaboration tools
Per usage	APIs, infrastructure
Per record/contact	CRMs, email
Flat fee	Simple products
Revenue share	Marketplaces

Validation Test

> As customers get more value, do they naturally pay more?

If not → metric is misaligned.

6. Tier Design

Number of Tiers

Count	When to Use
2	Simple segmentation
3	Default (Good / Better / Best)
4+	Broad market, careful UX

Good / Better / Best

Good

Entry point
Limited usage
Removes friction

Better (Anchor)

Where most customers should land
Full core value
Best value-per-dollar

Best

Power users / enterprise
Advanced controls, scale, support

Differentiation Levers

Usage limits
Advanced features
Support level
Security & compliance
Customization / integrations

7. Persona-Based Packaging

Step 1: Define Personas

Segment by:

Company size
Use case
Sophistication
Budget norms

Step 2: Map Value to Tiers

Ensure each persona clearly maps to one tier.

Step 3: Price to Segment WTP

Avoid “one price fits all” across fundamentally different buyers.

8. Freemium vs. Free Trial

Freemium Works When

Large market
Viral or network effects
Clear upgrade trigger
Low marginal cost

Free Trial Works When

Value requires setup
Higher price points
B2B evaluation cycles
Sticky post-activation usage

Hybrid Models

Reverse trials
Feature-limited free + premium trial

9. Price Increases

Signals It’s Time

Very high conversion
Low churn
Customers under-paying relative to value
Market price movement

Increase Strategies

New customers only

Delayed increase for existing

Value-tied increase

Full plan restructure

10. Pricing Page Alignment (Strategy Only)

This skill defines what pricing should be.
Execution belongs to page-cro.

Strategic requirements:

Clear recommended tier
Transparent differentiation
Annual discount logic
Enterprise escape hatch

11. Price Testing (Safe Methods)

Preferred:

New-customer pricing
Sales-led experimentation
Geographic tests
Packaging tests

Avoid:

Blind A/B price tests on same page
Surprise customer discovery

12. Enterprise Pricing

When to Introduce

Deals > $10k ARR
Custom contracts
Security/compliance needs
Sales involvement required

Common Structures

Volume-discounted per seat
Platform fee + usage
Outcome-based pricing

13. Output Expectations

This skill produces:

Pricing Strategy Document

Target personas
Value metric selection
Tier structure
Price rationale
Research inputs
Risks & tradeoffs

Change Recommendation (If Applicable)

Who is affected
Expected impact
Rollout plan
Measurement plan

14. Validation Checklist

[ ] Clear value metric
[ ] Distinct tier personas
[ ] Research-backed price range
[ ] Conversion-safe entry tier
[ ] Expansion path exists

[ ] Enterprise handled explicitly

Related Skills

page-cro – Pricing page conversion

copywriting – Pricing copy

analytics-tracking – Measure impact

ab-test-setup – Safe experimentation

marketing-psychology – Behavioral pricing effects