How to justify the price of a product?

24 replies
Hi guys,

How do we justify a price of a product when buying, and how as product creators think of a price.

Initially i just had this number in my mind for my product which is $298 for a trading course that im setting up.

And as much as i think its worth every penny, i also feel it might be too high for the normal clickbank buyers who are used to $47, $77, and $97.

So im having a dilemma here.

I mean if i just take into consideration the worth of the course, i could easily charge $1000. [sry not trying to brag here ]
So it definitely doesnt work that way.

If i claim that i can help them make at least $250 in a week, that would mean it is worth around $1000 a month.
So if i charge it at that amount it will still be justified.
[of cos i can put the guarantee that if they dont make that money they can get a refund.]

And i also have received advice about over delivering.
But seeing that if i guarantee $1000 a month at least, and pricing it at $500 will still be over delivering.

But again, it doesnt work like that does it?

So how do you guys price ur product exactly, wanna hear from you.

Oh oh, and the other thing is that even if i were to price it low which is in the range of the normal cb stuff, i was thinking of avoiding the normal 47, 77, 97 numbers, becos somehow its associated with trash products over time.

Thats my personal opinion though, when i open a promo email linking to cb product and i see 47, 37, 77 or 97, i go "oh another junk".

I know there are good ones out there, but theres just too many 1 click riches junk that are priced at that level. So i dont want to be associated with them.

Edited to add in 2nd part.

The other aspect to pricing a product is the value and the amount of info.
So which is it or is it a fine balance, and if so how?

Example, the member area can be a 5 min video and thats it, you can follow this instructions and make $1000 lets say. So there you go, the value is there.
But will people be happy to pay $500 for a 5 min video even if it has the value there?

Example 2, the member area has tones and tones of info, well worth the money in a sense, but with all that info, once put to action, it only has the potential to earn $50 per week. But its $500 for 3 hours worth of video packed with info.

So the psychology part kicks in here.
Lets put both examples on level field.
If you had 1 program that cost $500 for a 5 min video which has the potential to make you $1000 and a 2nd program that cost $500 for 3 hours worth of video/info which has the potential to make you $1000.

Will you be satisfied with program 1?
Naturally people will go "ah i paid $500 for a 5 min video?? WTH.!
Because results come later, so you wont know the value until u test it out.
But right there and then, will ur mind be bias towards it already and half thinking of asking for a refund already.?
#justify #price #product
  • Profile picture of the author Bisturi
    I'm assumming yours is an ebook? If so, I actually believe ebook consumers have been educated to expect cheap prices. Amazon ebooks average 4.99 and the big titles are 9.99 (well 12.40 including taxes), which is a silly price considering the author only keeps 70%. Clickbank is no saint either; CB is inundated with PLR garbage (and non-PLR garbage) that goes for 10-20 USD.
    To make a good book (be it amazon, physical or PDF), you have to invest days and months to put something of good quality. You then have to revise for errors, or pay over 500+ USD for proofreading; a lot of your life goes into that book. Yet consumers are resistant to buying anything for more than 40 USD.

    Personally, I'd try to build a brand name; I think that's the only way to really charge more for your books/courses.

    Just a thought.
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    • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
      Originally Posted by Bisturi View Post

      I'm assumming yours is an ebook? If so, I actually believe ebook consumers have been educated to expect cheap prices. Amazon ebooks average 4.99 and the big titles are 9.99 (well 12.40 including taxes), which is a silly price considering the author only keeps 70%. Clickbank is no saint either; CB is inundated with PLR garbage (and non-PLR garbage) that goes for 10-20 USD.
      To make a good book (be it amazon, physical or PDF), you have to invest days and months to put something of good quality. You then have to revise for errors, or pay over 500+ USD for proofreading; a lot of your life goes into that book. Yet consumers are resistant to buying anything for more than 40 USD.

      Personally, I'd try to build a brand name; I think that's the only way to really charge more for your books/courses.

      Just a thought.
      Nope its quite hard to teach a trading course in an ebook.
      Its a video course.

      But i agree with u on ebooks price
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  • Profile picture of the author EmilyAbbott
    Banned
    I reckon you must think ”Are people willing to spend that much money on my product?” I mean, you can make it expensive, but would it sell?
    I agree with the building a brand name.
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  • Profile picture of the author LillySage
    I usually test different price points using different websites. You can simultaneously sell the same product with different prices on different web sites and see which pulls the best. Just takes some testing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ben Gordon
      Originally Posted by LillySage View Post

      I usually test different price points using different websites. You can simultaneously sell the same product with different prices on different web sites and see which pulls the best. Just takes some testing.
      I agree. Start by making different websites with different brands (aka. your product name) and sell it for different prices. Send PPC or other traffic to it adn see which works best.

      Then, once you have your results do the main launch with the price that has maximum EPC.

      It's all a game of testing, no guessing is required here
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  • Profile picture of the author Dariuszden
    For higher priced product I recommended doing a live webinar and do the main selling at the end, or give a lot of information for free so people can "test" it out.

    I see you're very confident about your training, and you're sure people can make at least $250 dollars per week with it. The problem is that not everyone will make it, and it's nothing against your training. You could give people a an hour a day plan to make $100 a day and half would still not follow it.

    So better be careful with that.
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  • Profile picture of the author isaacsmithjones
    As you say, your price is JUSTIFIED... But you just need a way to get people to SEE the value that you're offering to them.

    The best way to find out what people will pay is by testing. Try the price that you've currently got, and tweak it around.

    And for higher ticket items, it's often a good idea to funnel the traffic a little bit first. Try offering something for free, which you can use to show the the value of the product.

    Perhaps a webinar, or free coaching session.

    Or you could even create a "lite" version... Take out some of the stuff, and then offer the "lite" version at a lower price, and then upsell them on the full course.

    just a few ideas... Hope they help.
    Isaac
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  • Profile picture of the author thatjc
    I agree with Lilly - split testing the price is the scientific way to go.

    That said, there are important Social Psychology principles at work here which can increase or decrease your success:
    • Perceptual Contrast: You can tell people the "true value", then contrast that against the popular price you're actually asking and explain why you're selling for a popular price instead.
    • Reciprocity: By doing them this "favor" (unconnected to them having to do anything in return - which would make it a "transaction" instead and refusable) you oblige them to do something for you (purchase or sign up to your mailing list)
    • Commitment/Consistency: If they do "return the favor", you have put them on the road to a long-term business relationship because people want to act in a way consistent with their past actions. People will even change their view of your website or product from negative to positive in order to stay "consistent" with having done a positive action in relation to you.

    Bottom line: Charge a popular price (or a bit higher, as higher price is perceived as higher value), but also explain (in a believable way) why the value is much higher than the price. Perhaps as you have here, in terms of how much more they'll make versus what they pay.

    And yes, a 100% guaranteed refund (no reason needed) is critical. You can make it for a reasonable time period after the purchase, then no longer available - say 60 days.

    Hope this helps...
    _jim coe
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    • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
      1st of all thanks guys for the discussions.

      Originally Posted by thatjc View Post

      That said, there are important Social Psychology principles at work here which can increase or decrease your success:
      • Perceptual Contrast: You can tell people the "true value", then contrast that against the popular price you're actually asking and explain why you're selling for a popular price instead.
      • Reciprocity: By doing them this "favor" (unconnected to them having to do anything in return - which would make it a "transaction" instead and refusable) you oblige them to do something for you (purchase or sign up to your mailing list)
      • Commitment/Consistency: If they do "return the favor", you have put them on the road to a long-term business relationship because people want to act in a way consistent with their past actions. People will even change their view of your website or product from negative to positive in order to stay "consistent" with having done a positive action in relation to you.
      Hope this helps...
      _jim coe
      It does. I love the psychological aspect to it, always love psychology, So clicked with ur comments.

      Originally Posted by isaacsmithjones View Post

      And for higher ticket items, it's often a good idea to funnel the traffic a little bit first. Try offering something for free, which you can use to show the the value of the product.

      Perhaps a webinar, or free coaching session.

      Or you could even create a "lite" version... Take out some of the stuff, and then offer the "lite" version at a lower price, and then upsell them on the full course.

      just a few ideas... Hope they help.
      Isaac
      Yup i tot of that. Taking out some stuff and give it free, then offer the upsale version.

      Originally Posted by Dariuszden View Post

      For higher priced product I recommended doing a live webinar and do the main selling at the end, or give a lot of information for free so people can "test" it out.

      I see you're very confident about your training, and you're sure people can make at least $250 dollars per week with it. The problem is that not everyone will make it, and it's nothing against your training. You could give people a an hour a day plan to make $100 a day and half would still not follow it.

      So better be careful with that.
      Hhaha yes im aware of that. No matter how good something is, there will always be refunds and people not succeeding.
      Its just human.



      Originally Posted by LillySage View Post

      I usually test different price points using different websites. You can simultaneously sell the same product with different prices on different web sites and see which pulls the best. Just takes some testing.
      As for testing, my concern is that if i test on different websites, people are gonna see different prices around, and i dont know about you guys, but if i see a similar product with lower price, i will think "oh maybe somewhere else may be cheaper" and then i procrastinate hoping to find another cheaper place.
      Then with procrastination it may turn into a NO-sale.
      Or an endless persuit, u never know if there is another cheaper one out there.

      Then when i finally find it, i will be thinking " will this be inferior? or should i just buy the more expansive one, but the most ex or the in between? " Then i get indecisive and just put the whole thing off.

      lol. That is what im afraid people will do.

      Same with changing the price in 1 location, people will see the price dropping and go, oh its dropping, maybe wait 1 month to see if it will go even lower.
      And its a continuous cycle.
      And it can be seen as "not doing well" as well, or people will think u have no confidence in your product. Thus lowering the price.
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  • Profile picture of the author thatjc
    For testing, you can always use a Google A/B split test. It sends 50% of your traffic to one page, 50% to the other. No one ever sees both. And it uses a cookie to be sure past visitors only see the page that they saw before. You don't have to publish to more than one website/server.

    You do have to have enough traffic, or else the test will take a long time to reach a statistical confidence level you can believe in.

    As for wondering if there are lower prices - the next time that happens to you, use PriceGrabber to automatically compare prices all over the Internet.

    Hope this helps...
    _jim coe
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    • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
      Originally Posted by thatjc View Post

      For testing, you can always use a Google A/B split test. It sends 50% of your traffic to one page, 50% to the other. No one ever sees both. And it uses a cookie to be sure past visitors only see the page that they saw before. You don't have to publish to more than one website/server.

      You do have to have enough traffic, or else the test will take a long time to reach a statistical confidence level you can believe in.

      As for wondering if there are lower prices - the next time that happens to you, use PriceGrabber to automatically compare prices all over the Internet.

      Hope this helps...
      _jim coe
      GREAT.
      thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author jimvol
    I personally think you are approaching this from the wrong angle. You are trying to reach a big pond, which is great, but the fish for your product are probably a niche within a niche. In actual fishing terms, you are in the right lake but maybe not in the right eddy.

    If I had a product like yours, I would network with a few other fairly successful marketers in your niche and get some buzz about your product launch going. Then get an awesome Skype or webinar and give away some mid level (but high quality) info to those on the call for Free. Then pitch your product to these people.

    If you have three buddies you schedule 3 calls on different weeks, make sure everyone has a product to promote. Each of you serve as a panel of experts on the call... Each of you promote the call to your lists, then for three weeks each of you showcases his or her product after the free stuff.

    The meat of the call can be the same but the pitch at the end can change from week to week.

    You sell to a hungry crowd and make a lot of money. Offer discounts, etc and give the people on the call value.

    Hope this gets you thinking some.

    Jeremiah
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    • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
      Originally Posted by jimvol View Post

      I personally think you are approaching this from the wrong angle. You are trying to reach a big pond, which is great, but the fish for your product are probably a niche within a niche. In actual fishing terms, you are in the right lake but maybe not in the right eddy.

      If I had a product like yours, I would network with a few other fairly successful marketers in your niche and get some buzz about your product launch going. Then get an awesome Skype or webinar and give away some mid level (but high quality) info to those on the call for Free. Then pitch your product to these people.

      If you have three buddies you schedule 3 calls on different weeks, make sure everyone has a product to promote. Each of you serve as a panel of experts on the call... Each of you promote the call to your lists, then for three weeks each of you showcases his or her product after the free stuff.

      The meat of the call can be the same but the pitch at the end can change from week to week.

      You sell to a hungry crowd and make a lot of money. Offer discounts, etc and give the people on the call value.

      Hope this gets you thinking some.

      Jeremiah
      yup definitely some great ideas too.
      I know there are quite alot of people doing it this way.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    Another way to set and justify a price is to focus on the most valuable commodity - time. How much time do you save the customer by providing that info in an easily digestible form. Is it going to save them time down the track after learning that material.

    Time is a very valuable commodity and a great way to justifty a lot of service and info based prices.
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    • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
      Originally Posted by Fraggler View Post

      Another way to set and justify a price is to focus on the most valuable commodity - time. How much time do you save the customer by providing that info in an easily digestible form. Is it going to save them time down the track after learning that material.

      Time is a very valuable commodity and a great way to justifty a lot of service and info based prices.
      Oh yes, thats my 2nd point in my OP in red.
      But not so much into how much time i save them.
      Is more on how much time they need to consume the materials related to how much they have paid. Will it be worth?

      Will you think its good to pay $500 for a 1 min fix, or $500 for a 6 hour video fix. Will you think oh 6 hours, ok its worth my $500, or you will think ok good it takes me 1 min only.?
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Newbieee, I think you're making the mistake of confusing your real market with the run-of-the-mill Clickbank customer. I know people who happily pay multiple hundreds per month for a 4-page (17"x22" folded to make 4 8.5"x11" pages) financial newsletter, and who may only use the info from two or three lines of that paper newsletter.

        If your training is that good, aim for the high rollers who expect good investment advice to cost money. I know a few who won't even consider a source if it's priced too low - they say it doesn't keep out the riff-raff.

        If you think the course is worth $298, charge $298 and market it to people for whom $298 is a fair price (or better). Unless you have a backend to justify the lower price, charge what it's worth and promote it accordingly.
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        • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
          Originally Posted by John Romaine View Post

          Hey man, I have skipped over a few replies in this thread so I apologize if I've doubled up anywhere, but I wanted to share my experiences having developed and sold a $497 product myself.

          For me, selling a $497 product at the front was hard. Infact, I struggled with it. The product wasn't an issue at all, it was the price. I think for anyone that pushes a product at this pricing point, you'd want to have some kind of name for yourself (or brand) so some pretty damn good social proof.

          I cant help but think you've put a considerable amount of time into this? Am I right?

          If I was to have my time over again with my product ($497) I would've done a few things differently.

          1. Built a community around it. Dropped the price and got people into a membership (recurring monthly fee) to make up for the shortfall in the initial price

          2. Split the product up and sold it in bitesized pieces. $97 for this, $69 for that etc

          3. Spent much less time and effort on it. You need to fail quickly. Money loves speed.

          4. Done more research to see what OTHER COMPETING products were priced at. This would've prevented a lot of messing around as most were in and around the $99-150 mark. Not $497

          5. Put the product INSIDE a membership site and given the product away free, then worked my arse off to keep them there.

          Hope this helps.
          Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

          Newbieee, I think you're making the mistake of confusing your real market with the run-of-the-mill Clickbank customer. I know people who happily pay multiple hundreds per month for a 4-page (17"x22" folded to make 4 8.5"x11" pages) financial newsletter, and who may only use the info from two or three lines of that paper newsletter.

          If your training is that good, aim for the high rollers who expect good investment advice to cost money. I know a few who won't even consider a source if it's priced too low - they say it doesn't keep out the riff-raff.

          If you think the course is worth $298, charge $298 and market it to people for whom $298 is a fair price (or better). Unless you have a backend to justify the lower price, charge what it's worth and promote it accordingly.
          Thanks guys!
          Definitely good points man!

          I went for a dump and 2 great replies already. wow.
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          • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
            Originally Posted by Newbieee View Post

            I went for a dump
            Gee, thanks for that. :rolleyes:

            By the way, don't get hung up on $298.

            I know of kickass traffic product that could've sold at $999 that sold at $79.

            The creator of that product sold 3,000 units worth.
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            • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
              Originally Posted by John Romaine View Post

              Gee, thanks for that. :rolleyes:
              No problem. HAhahah!
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Hey man, I have skipped over a few replies in this thread so I apologize if I've doubled up anywhere, but I wanted to share my experiences having developed and sold a $497 product myself.

    For me, selling a $497 product at the front was hard. Infact, I struggled with it. The product wasn't an issue at all, it was the price. I think for anyone that pushes a product at this pricing point, you'd want to have some kind of name for yourself (or brand) so some pretty damn good social proof.

    I cant help but think you've put a considerable amount of time into this? Am I right?

    If I was to have my time over again with my product ($497) I would've done a few things differently.

    1. Built a community around it. Dropped the price and got people into a membership (recurring monthly fee) to make up for the shortfall in the initial price

    2. Split the product up and sold it in bitesized pieces. $97 for this, $69 for that etc

    3. Spent much less time and effort on it. You need to fail quickly. Money loves speed.

    4. Done more research to see what OTHER COMPETING products were priced at. This would've prevented a lot of messing around as most were in and around the $99-150 mark. Not $497

    5. Put the product INSIDE a membership site and given the product away free, then worked my arse off to keep them there.

    Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author ralchevd
    Okay, it seems that once again I missed the beginning of a huge, rarely meaningful thread.

    I'd say few things that I've noticed on product pricing (these may be called "tips"):
    - Branding: I've seen many overpriced unbranded products. Why overpriced? Well, I just cannot trust a product without a good looking website, even without a logo.
    - Competition: Make a deep research on your competitors. Take a look at their pricing list, compare.
    - Motivate your customers: If you think that you can give much more than your competitors, find a way to motivate your customers to make the purchase. Again - branding. Outsource your website, make an interactive sales page (not a fiverr one). Make them feel like they are using something that is designed for them.

    A successful example of a product that I HIGHLY respect is SEOmoz.

    And pretty much I agree with John Romaine on his points.
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    • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
      Originally Posted by ralchevd View Post

      Okay, it seems that once again I missed the beginning of a huge, rarely meaningful thread.

      I'd say few things that I've noticed on product pricing (these may be called "tips"):
      - Branding: I've seen many overpriced unbranded products. Why overpriced? Well, I just cannot trust a product without a good looking website, even without a logo.
      - Competition: Make a deep research on your competitors. Take a look at their pricing list, compare.
      - Motivate your customers: If you think that you can give much more than your competitors, find a way to motivate your customers to make the purchase. Again - branding. Outsource your website, make an interactive sales page (not a fiverr one). Make them feel like they are using something that is designed for them.

      A successful example of a product that I HIGHLY respect is SEOmoz.

      And pretty much I agree with John Romaine on his points.
      Thanks for the compliment on my thread.
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  • When I first opened your post it seemed like you were going on and on for ages, and I was about to close the browser after reading your second paragraph.

    But then I thought "this guy actually sounds sincere, interesting and like a great person", so I kept reading.

    This answers your questions right here and now in my opinion. I mean, if your content is good have it on there, no matter how much or how little content it is.

    If you want to go ahead and make a 50 page boring e-book that will sell for $47, attract you 200 buyers, have 50 people ask for their money back because they think it sucks since they didn’t even take the time to properly read it, and leave you with: $7050


    OR…

    You can release the 5 min video; market it to REAL prospects who perceive value based on: 1) i want info that will help me get the job done right, 2) I want this info from a reliable source & 3) I want to consume it fast, execute it, and get results.

    You will end up attracting 50 clients, at $298, with maybe one person asking for his money back, which leave you at $14602, but also leaves you with 50 people who really know business, and who really value your material. That you can work with them to start up more projects and sell more products to in the future.

    I would take the second option any day of the year.
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    • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
      Originally Posted by TheViralMarketingSystem View Post

      When I first opened your post it seemed like you were going on and on for ages, and I was about to close the browser after reading your second paragraph.

      But then I thought "this guy actually sounds sincere, interesting and like a great person", so I kept reading.

      This answers your questions right here and now in my opinion. I mean, if your content is good have it on there, no matter how much or how little content it is.

      If you want to go ahead and make a 50 page boring e-book that will sell for $47, attract you 200 buyers, have 50 people ask for their money back because they think it sucks since they didn't even take the time to properly read it, and leave you with: $7050


      OR...

      You can release the 5 min video; market it to REAL prospects who perceive value based on: 1) i want info that will help me get the job done right, 2) I want this info from a reliable source & 3) I want to consume it fast, execute it, and get results.

      You will end up attracting 50 clients, at $298, with maybe one person asking for his money back, which leave you at $14602, but also leaves you with 50 people who really know business, and who really value your material. That you can work with them to start up more projects and sell more products to in the future.

      I would take the second option any day of the year.
      hahaha thanks for the compliment and sorry for the long winded post.


      Im aware of what you are saying actually, just wanted to hear others opinions.
      But thanks for the break down in the comparison. Always love to see digits and numbers.
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