How to order your pricing in a subscription model. ( human misjudgements)

Because it works. In IM for example, new marketers will often download 'free' options/reports/etc - then will move into buying in the $7-20 range and after a time will buy at $47, $67....$99....etc. The barriers to paying money for 'info' seem to change with marketing experience. That was what i found to be true, at least.



Many of those new people would leave permanently if first presented with a $1k option....they wouldn't stay around to see 'better' offers.


Of course you could always test the 'low to higher' and 'high to lower' pricing and see what works for you.

Would agree here. I think even Cialdini would admit his "door in the face" technique had its limitations for "unreasonably large" requests, where it can have a backfiring effect. That said, i think it's an interesting and easily testable idea assuming you have "reasonable" ranges to present in the order you wish. (And more broadly, it's clear there's truth to his reciprocity principle generally ... from the free trials every media product offers, to free food given out by food-box subscriptions, nearly every major player in the subscription game utilizes it in one way or another ... certainly a principle worth ruminating on for your business too imo)

This is a great question. First, we should always test and not assume one way will work for all markets.

The principle at play here actually isn't Reciprocity (or consistency and commitment from Cialdini). It is Anchoring. I forget who discovered this, but Dan Ariely talks about it in Predictably Irrational with his experiment with social security numbers and the price of wine.

There is a lot of research that shows that if we start with a higher price, that becomes the anchor point for comparing what we see after.

So vianney, you're right that we should, in theory, start with the higher (decoy) price which will then make the lower prices more appealing.

Offering more than one price also serves to change the decision making from 'should i buy or not?' to 'which option should i choose' which improves sales a lot.

Adding in text that says "Most Popular Choice" brings in Cialdini's Social Proof lever to improve results even more.

But again, always smart to test.

When pricing, it's usually best to use three prices, lowest to highest. But the reason you do this is to sell the middle price. So you make the difference between the first price and the second one minor, and the difference between the second and third one greater.
This is for pricing one time offers. Not subscriptions.

It's not a matter of reciprocity, but a silent negotiation going on in the prospect's mind. Make the middle choice the obvious one.

Ask yourself "Who do you want?"

You want subscribers...paid subscribers. In the subscription market, the single most effective way to get them is with a low (Maybe $7) fee for the first month or two...and then your regular monthly charge.

Why is this better than free? Because there is a vast difference between someone getting free information and someone giving you a credit card for a $7 charge. That $7 charge makes them a buyer. You want buyers.

After they buy...you can make other offers, and even offer a yearly (or lifetime) subscription for a larger sum of money.

Even guys like Russell Brunson, who offers a free rial to his $300 a month service...mostly does that after you buy a book, or a few upsells. ....

Because now you are a buyer.

I used to have a $39 a month newsletter. I tried free trial offers, Yearly offers, and forced continuity (where they got the subscription when they bought an expensive course from me). The $5.95 fee for the first 3 (then 2) months, worked the best...by far.

About 80% of the $5.95 buyers kept the subscription....for an average of 14-18 months. In the newsletter business, that's pretty good. But I was selling by speaking at trade shows, (and selling it in the back of my books) not online.

And of course, the subscribers were now my audience, and they got all the higher end pitches.


I think of this higher priced "Anchor point" is best brought out earlier...not as a hard price, but as part of an example..."I regularly get $500 and hour for phone consulting"....it sets a value, and a comparison to a lower price made later.


Yup. The purpose of offering more than one price..as you said.

"Popular" and "Recommended " are two magic words that pull the buyer to the offer you really want them to buy.