pricing-strategy

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.

1. Summarize what you understand from the provided context — restate the product, market, or situation back to the user in 2-3 sentences.
2. 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?
3. 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.

1. 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?

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

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