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Pricing Products: ONE price, or Basic/Pro model?

by trkr81
10 replies
I've created quite an arsenal of content (280 page manual with screenshots and diagrams, and nearly 5 hours of screencast video). Now, I'm faced with the inevitable "pricing" phase for a membership site.

Personally, I like ONE price so that I don't have to think about "what I'm NOT getting if I don't take the premium package". However, I'm not the customer. So, I'd like to get some feedback on how YOU like to buy things.

Do you prefer a one-off price, say $99 to simplify the buying process? Or do you like the Basic/Pro membership model with two plans to choose from? Say $99, and $149.

Too many choices can stall the left-brainers and analyst-minded folk. And based on my target market, I think there will be a lot of them.

My target market is not Internet Marketing or "make money fanatics" but rather introverted technofiles. These guys love the latest greatest toys. They thrive on tweaking their electronics, and getting the most out of their gadgets. Most of them are male, age 38, and nearly half of them will be US based.

There is NO ONE selling what I'll be selling. So, competition aside (for the time being anyway), which pricing model would you choose and why?
#basic or pro #model #price #pricing #products
  • Profile picture of the author Rok Solid
    If these people buy magazines the you're probably on to something good here. The thing to be careful of here is that extremely high volumes of content can be overwhelming.

    Why not offer two options

    1. Flat monthly fee. Price will be whatever the market will bear. Drip feed your content with an autoresponder or membership script. Again magazines may help here. How much do they charge for a monthly subscription?
    2. 1 year in advance for a steep discount. Some with the cash may decide to save over the long term. This is a nice cash boost for you
    Keeping the price really cheap will get you more buyers who you can always promote more stuff to.


    Good luck
    Ricky
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      trkr81,

      Test the different prices you have in mind on your target audience. It's the only way to be sure that you're charging the most effective price for what you are offering. Sure people here at the forum have preferences . . . but there is no guarantee that your target audience feels the same way.

      Folks here at the Warrior Forum are not going to think the same as your target market and they are not going to be able to assess the value/worth of your offer (except a few "rather introverted technofiles" that might be here - and what are the chances they are reading this thread?) You need to hear from your specific prospects what they are willing to pay and how they prefer to pay for your offer.

      Good luck to you,

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author trkr81
        Thank you all for your responses. I do appreciate it.

        I've considered the monthly option, but due to the nature of the content, I'm not sure it would work out. It's mainly a video course. I planned to use the written content for a Kindle ebook to leverage exposure using Amazon for leads that might otherwise be out of reach.

        This is the sort of thing they'll likely want to buy once and have it to refer back to when they need it.

        I've got some tools for split-testing, but... How would you go about doing that without your visitors possibly landing on a page with a different price?

        Again, thanks for input. I appreciate the time you took to respond.
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  • Profile picture of the author eklipz316
    As a consumer, I like the one pricing option better, but the two options might cause your product to sell better.

    A simple A/B test should answer this question for you. Setup two different pages (one with option A, the other with option B) and promote them both as equality as possible, then check the results to see which one garnered more sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rok Solid
    Sounds like you may want to consider having different versions of your course. So a scaled down version (Kindle or an ebook) and then an upgrade to the big video course - which now that I've reread your last post seems to be exactly what you're planning to do

    You'll need to use the text version to both provide great value and "sell" the reader on the big video course.

    It might be a good idea to attach a closed customer only Facebook group to the video course membership to add value and an incentive to buy. And if the community is active this can reduce the amount of support you have to personally provide.

    You'll likely also need to follow up with the ebook buyers a few times to convince them that the video upgrade is worth the additional cost
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  • Profile picture of the author Geri Richmond
    Hi,
    I just read a blog where the guy did some testing and found that $97 a month for a membership site was the best number that got the most action. He ended up with over 2200 subscribers at $97 a month. You do the math! Of course this is quality stuff.
    If your subs are use to getting quality from you, you shouldn't have a problem.
    Good luck with your decision.
    Geri
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  • Profile picture of the author Sean DeSilva
    According to Dan Kennedy you should always have a premium priced offer. If not on the front end then definitely on the backend.

    There is another excellent book called Predictably irrational, where the author discusses having three options, at say $99, $129, and $129, with option number three being a clearly inferior choice compared to option number two. Doing that messes up how we compare and contrast offers, causing a lot more people to take the more expensive option.
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  • Profile picture of the author actionplanbiz
    as an alternative to sean desilva's post. option 3 can be a decoy to increase the value of option 2.

    Check out optimizepress's option here:
    OptimizePress Checkout - Pricing

    no really buys option 3. they either buy option 1 or 2.
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetSpider
    well if you are new as you have no product before this one I advice you to make it one time price and take care of people who joins your course so after a while you can promote another product to them and they will buy with confidence!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author trkr81
    @Rok Solid, The Facebook page for a support area is a great idea. Is it possible to create categories too, or would it be one long thread?

    @Sean DeSilva, Great example. So, you're saying that people have a natural desire to choose the price that suits them, even if it's more than they want to spend.

    That's interesting. Ever watched "House Hunters" on HGTV? People start out with a budget of say, $400,000 to buy a home. But the majority of them end up buying homes slightly over their budget. They push their spending limits to the max, providing that the home offers enough value to justify the cost.

    I'm a very calculated buyer. But I realize that many people are not. And in many cases, people don't exercise much self-command when making purchasing decisions. If they want it, they find a way to get it.

    On the flip-side, I want to offer incredible value and make this affordable. High-ticket items tend to have a short shelf-life. They also tend to use fear-of-loss scarcity sales tactics, none of which focus on delivering value, but rather lining pockets.

    I've found that when you push the absolute brink of decision, logical buyers shut down. So, youre left with emotional buyers. And emotional buyers attribute to the highest refund rates and support costs. My target market is slammed with logical buyers so my price needs to make sense in proportion to the offer.

    So, maybe you hit the mark. I need to help them make a logical buying decision based on value, with a sprinkle of emotional enticement.
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