| name | pricing-strategy |
| description | Analyze and design pricing strategies including pricing models, competitive pricing analysis, willingness-to-pay estimation, and price elasticity. Use when setting prices, evaluating pricing models, preparing for a pricing change, or comparing freemium vs paid approaches. |
Pricing Strategy
Design a pricing strategy grounded in value delivery, competitive positioning, and willingness to pay.
Context
You are developing a pricing strategy for $ARGUMENTS.
If the user provides files (competitor pricing, survey data, financial models, or usage data), read them first. Use web search to research competitor pricing if needed.
Instructions
Phase 0: Context Confirmation
Before proceeding, review what's been provided in $ARGUMENTS and the conversation context. Only ask about what's missing — don't re-ask what's already clear.
- Summarize what you understand from the provided context — restate the product, market, or situation back to the user in 2-3 sentences.
- Identify gaps — if any of the following are unclear, ask:
- What product or service needs pricing?
- What is the current pricing model (if any)?
- Who is the target customer and what alternatives do they have?
- Confirm: "Here's my understanding: [summary]. I plan to [brief description of what the skill will produce]. Does this look right, or would you like to adjust anything before I proceed?"
If the user provides additional context, incorporate it. If the user confirms, proceed.
-
Understand the value delivered:
- What is the core value proposition?
- What is the customer's alternative (and its cost)?
- What quantifiable outcomes does the product deliver? (time saved, revenue gained, cost reduced)
- What is the customer's willingness to pay based on that value?
-
Evaluate pricing models — recommend the best fit:
| Model | Best For | Example |
|---|
| Flat-rate | Simple products, predictable costs | Basecamp ($99/mo flat) |
| Per-seat | Collaboration tools, team products | Slack, Figma |
| Usage-based | Infrastructure, API products | AWS, Twilio |
| Tiered | Products with distinct user segments | Most SaaS (Free/Pro/Enterprise) |
| Freemium | Products with viral/network effects | Spotify, Notion |
| Freemium + usage | Platform products | Vercel, OpenAI API |
| Value-based | High-impact enterprise tools | Salesforce, Palantir |
-
Analyze competitive pricing:
- Map competitor pricing tiers and what's included
- Identify where your product sits (premium, mid-market, budget)
- Find pricing gaps or opportunities
- Note any industry pricing conventions
-
Design the pricing structure:
- Tiers: Define 2-4 tiers with clear differentiation
- Feature gating: Which features go in which tier? (Use value metrics, not arbitrary limits)
- Value metric: What unit do you charge on? (users, events, storage, API calls)
- Anchor pricing: Set the most popular tier to feel like the obvious choice
- Annual discount: Typically 15-20% off monthly pricing
-
Estimate price sensitivity:
- Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter (if survey data available):
- Too cheap → quality concerns
- Cheap → good value
- Expensive → starting to hesitate
- Too expensive → won't buy
- Alternatively, estimate based on competitor pricing and value delivered
-
Plan pricing experiments:
- A/B test pricing pages (different price points, tier names, feature bundles)
- Founder-led sales conversations to test willingness to pay
- Landing page tests with different price anchors
- Cohort analysis of conversion rates by price point
-
Output a pricing recommendation:
Recommended Model: [Model type]
Value Metric: [What you charge on]
| Tier | Price | Target Segment | Key Features | Positioning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Key Assumptions:
- [Assumption] → [How to test]
Risks:
- [Risk] → [Mitigation]
Think step by step. Save as markdown. Flag any assumptions that need validation before launch.
