On the Paradox of Pricing: Finding Harmony Between Value and Comfort

One of the most delicate challenges for a product manager lies in navigating the complex world of pricing—a domain that is as much about psychology as it is about economics. Often, we are lured into the simplicity of proportionality: attaching a price to each measurable unit of our product, believing that value delivered and cost incurred can dance in an elegant, one-to-one symmetry. It is an appealing concept—after all, isn’t fairness the most rational and virtuous goal?

This obsession with aligning price with usage comes from a belief in the justice of equivalence. And yet, in the world of B2B, justice does not necessarily lead to satisfaction.

The allure of what I might term "mathematical justice" in pricing—where every dollar paid precisely equates to a dollar of usage—can be deeply beguiling. As humans, we yearn for an orderly universe, one in which every effort yields its due reward. Thus, it seems eminently sensible for an AI service to charge per minute of video processed, per input token, or per successfully automated task. It seems fair, and fairness is among the highest forms of social good, isn’t it?

Yet, the folly of this approach becomes apparent once we examine the experiences of those who must endure it. Consider the recent proliferation of AI pricing models. Companies like OpenAI, Synthesia, and Zapier, in an effort to embody proportionality, have begun to charge for "units of work" completed:

1. Salesforce: $2 per conversation (Agentforce)
2. Intercom: $0.99 per AI resolution (FinAI agent)
3. Zendesk: Per successful autonomous resolution
4. Bardeen AI: Per automation credit
5. Chargeflow: 25% per successful chargeback

This obsession with aligning price with usage comes from a belief in the justice of equivalence. And yet, in the world of B2B, justice does not necessarily lead to satisfaction. What B2B customers often desire is not exactness but peace of mind—not proportionality but predictability.

The Longing for Certainty

Predictability—even if it lacks the forensic precision of proportionality—can be far more valuable, for it nurtures a sense of security.

To understand the difficulty of proportional pricing, we must step into the shoes of the beleaguered procurement manager or the exhausted operations director. Their world is not defined by fantasies of perfect alignment between cost and benefit but by a yearning for the calming balm of predictability—the ability to know what lies ahead, to plan, and to protect themselves from unexpected shocks. For them, proportional pricing—which changes monthly, weekly, even daily—is not a testament to fairness but a source of anxiety.

Imagine an Intercom customer, watching as support volumes rise dramatically and their bill follows suit. Their budget sways not because they have made a mistake but simply because the world has acted unpredictably. An automated resolution at $0.99 might be fair on paper, but when a spike in customer issues triples the monthly cost, fairness becomes little more than a paper-thin comfort.

Contrast this with the experience of Aftershoot customers. By paying for unlimited AI photo edits, they experience something almost akin to grace. The certainty that their cost will not change regardless of demand brings with it a quiet kind of comfort—an assurance that, for all the variables of the world, here at least is one thing that will remain steady. Predictability—even if it lacks the forensic precision of proportionality—can be far more valuable, for it nurtures a sense of security.

Knowing When to Let Go of Precision

Product managers must resist the temptation to view pricing as an abstract mathematical equation

The challenge, then, lies in recognizing that the greatest success in pricing comes not from the most sophisticated calibration of units to cost but from an understanding of human needs. Product managers must resist the temptation to view pricing as an abstract mathematical equation. Instead, they should see it as a human contract—one in which the needs of the customer are paramount, and where comfort may sometimes trump exactitude.

To determine whether proportionality or predictability should prevail, product managers might ask themselves the following:

1. How much does the customer need stability? For customers bound by rigid budgets, who require the comforting certainty of an expense that does not shift with every fluctuation in the winds of usage, predictable pricing—even at a slightly inflated rate—can be a precious gift.
2. Does the pricing communicate value clearly? The idea of charging per unit works well if the unit itself carries obvious value—like Salesforce's $2 per conversation, where the benefit is immediate and clear. But in murkier situations, proportional pricing can lead to confusion and mistrust, whereas fixed pricing offers a more comprehensible, comfortable deal.
3. Is your product mission-critical? When your tool becomes deeply embedded in your customer’s operations, the risk of unpredictable costs can outweigh any benefit derived from fairness. If your software is core to their day-to-day functioning, predictability should guide your approach.

The Human Dimension of Pricing

The true art of pricing lies not in finding mathematical exactness but in understanding what makes customers feel secure, assured, and valued

It is easy to fall in love with precision—to believe that there is some elegant formula out there that will allow pricing to perfectly mirror value. But the true art of pricing lies not in finding mathematical exactness but in understanding what makes customers feel secure, assured, and valued. A great pricing model may be imperfect on paper, but if it brings a sense of comfort to those who use it, then it has succeeded in a deeper and far more meaningful way.