Cracking the Pricing Code with Tiered Pricing Strategy (Case?Study)

Hi. Denizcan here!

In this issue, I will explain how tiered pricing of a product changed the behavior.

Product: Refinedtweets

The main point I want to convey in pricing strategies is that products should not be priced below their value. This is especially important for indie makers. I advise startups, products, and indie makers not to price their products for free or at a low cost in order to ensure their sustainability. Of course, this is assuming that they have built a valuable product.

The person who built refinedtweets is Faahim. And he is offering a lifetime deal for his new product, which is still in its early stages. This is definitely not something I recommend. However, if you absolutely want to offer a lifetime deal, I will discuss how you can do it better.

Let’s get started.

Refinedtweets has two plans: a free Chrome extension and a lifetime deal.

To emphasize the advantage of the lifetime deal, I have reframed the pricing. In total, I have designed four different packages: Free (extension), monthly plan, quarterly plan, and lifetime deal.

Hey, I’m creating these visuals on product websites by tinkering with the code.

And since I don’t know coding, the design aspect might not always result in spectacular visuals. (For example, I couldn’t frame each of the four packages separately :))

I hope you find it sufficient in terms of design.

1. Framing

It is about how we frame the product and how valuable people perceive it. We set the context. In my opinion, Refinedtweets is improving my Twitter feed and giving me back my time.

It prevents my attention from being wasted on unwanted tweets. Let’s remember that we pay with our attention on all social platforms like Twitter.. (Although now Elon wants not only our attention but also our money, haha)

Therefore, I prefer to establish this context at the first point. This way, it becomes clearer and more valuable what the product brings to the user.

2. Anchor and?loss

Concrete it.

Expressing things abstractly can lead to a lack of understanding. For example, if we imagine that the history of humanity was written in a 1000-page book, the existence of the internet would be on the last page, and AI tools, which are a part of our lives, would be in the last sentence of that page.

To explain the benefit of the product, it would be useful to first concretize what we are losing by default. How much does the noise pollution in your Twitter feed steal your attention, energy, and time? How much time do you spend on Twitter every day? If we consider this on a monthly scale, the situation becomes more serious.

The $100 and $1000 I mentioned create anchors for a potential customer. The anchoring effect will help perceive how reasonable the offer is compared to the anchor I set.

Furthermore, mentioning the $100 and $1000 emphasizes what the users are losing. Thus, we leverage the most effective cognitive bias, loss aversion.

3. Comparison and?offer

By reiterating the framing of attention and time, I am presenting an offer of only $9 compared to the anchors of $100 and $1000.

Designing the?Packages

Again, I need to emphasize that when designing pricing packages, we should always choose one package and build the entire narrative around it.

In another context, this not only makes it easier for users to make a choice but also determines how we influence their decisions.

4. Free?plan

I continue to offer the existing free extension plan. This is important for potential users to be able to test the product. I won’t even mention the significance of providing limited features in the free plan.

5. Remove ambiguity and make?visible

Here, I believe it is more accurate to mention below the button that no credit card is required.

Including it as the last sentence in the description section may increase the chance of it being overlooked.

6. Anchor

Monthly plan for $9. To make the value of the lifetime deal more understandable, we need to provide users with an anchor.

The lifetime deal of a product priced at $3 per month should not be the same as the one priced at $19 per month.

To create this anchor, I am setting a monthly fee of $9. This will have an anchoring effect.

If you find this newsletter valuable, please subscribe here or share it with others who might find it valuable.

7. Highlight Immediate Concrete?Benefit

I want to reiterate the features that the product offers to filter our feed in both the monthly and quarterly plans.

If I had implemented a different strategy, some features might have been exclusive to certain plans.

However, that is not our current strategy.

8. Trigger

The unique value proposition of the product for me is that it gives me back my attention and time.

Therefore, using a call to action that conveys this feeling will be more compelling.

For this, I have designed it as “buy back your time.”

9. Anchor

Quarterly plan for $27.

Just like the $9 plan, this plan serves as an anchor. I emphasized that our strategy is to highlight the lifetime deal.

To strengthen that, I preferred to create a quarterly plan as well.

And I set a linear price compared to the monthly plan. $9 for 1 month $27 for 3 months The package contents and call to action are designed similarly to the previous package.

10. Target?Package

The lifetime deal package, which we built the entire strategy around, now holds more significance.

However, I will make some improvements to it as well. Firstly, in the monthly and quarterly plans, we offered $9 and $27 respectively. And our lifetime deal plan is also valued at $27.

So, this is felt more clearly. What! Instead of a three-month price, will I be able to use it for a lifetime? That’s amazing!!

Building upon a target package alleviates cognitive load.

It prevents potential customers from being influenced by cognitive biases like the “paradox of choice” and “decision fatigue” when making decisions.

11. Trigger

CTA for the Lifetime Deal.

Since it’s a lifetime deal, I prefer using “buy your future time” as the call to action.

12. The Final?Blow

Do you remember the first sentence in the current pricing design?

“To reward early supporters, RefinedTweets Pro is ~~$16 for the first 20 users~~ $27 for the second batch.”

If I recall correctly, Faahim started using the tiered pricing strategy based on my suggestion, and he saw immediate results. He started with $16 for the first 20 users, and now it’s $27. When implemented correctly, the tiered pricing strategy works wonders.

However, the current version is not entirely accurate. Why? Yes, the previous price ($16) and the current offer ($27) are clearly stated.

Think about it. You are a potential buyer right now. The current price is $27. You won’t have the same reaction when faced with these two offers:

1. Next: $30

2. Next: $60

In tiered pricing, what triggers people to take action is the mention of the next price and the remaining slots.

That’s why I redesigned it.

– Sold: $16 for the first 20 users

– Now: $27 for the last 3 spots.

Here, by saying “last 3 spots,” I create a sense of scarcity.

– Next: $49 for 10 users.

The next amount is $49, and it triggers a potential customer to consider seizing the last 3 spots. If they don’t make the purchase, they’ll pay the price in money.

This is where loss aversion kicks in. While they have the opportunity to buy it for $27 now, if they’re not fast enough, they’ll miss it and the penalty will be $49.

– Next: $69 for 5 users

I limited it to 10 users first, then 5 users. This also implies increasing scarcity. The lifetime deal won’t last forever, you have to grab it now. As the slots decrease, the price increases, and fewer spots remain.

The 12th point combines multiple biases such as loss aversion, scarcity, FOMO (fear of missing out), and urgency with a single strategic move.

If you don’t have deep technical knowledge, I don’t advisable to use multiple biases. However, this could be the pinnacle of a pricing strategy, and it’s incredible.

Did you find this valuable?

This case study took me about 10 hours to write.

If you found it useful, support it by sharing it with others.

Thanks.

Denizcan.

#pricing #tieredpricing #productmarketing #growthmarketing #mrr #revenuestrategy #saasmarketing #startupgrowth