🧲 7 Pricing Tactics

Pricing is the most important decision for any business.

Fair prices don’t exist. Selling means proving to clients that your offer's value outweighs its price.

If you succeed, they buy.

Below, you’ll find seven tactics to structure your pricing the smart way.

Before diving in, keep in mind that there are no absolute truths in pricing.

Steve Jobs was an unbeatable salesman, always positioning his products at a premium. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos rules by relentlessly cutting Amazon's costs.

1. Luxury Pricing

This isn’t just about premium quality and high prices. It’s about status and scarcity.

Hermès, for instance, maintains a waitlist even for customers eager to pay its super expensive bags.

To succeed, ensure your product meets the desires of high-net-worth individuals and delivers an experience worthy of its price.

2. Value-Based Pricing

If your product helps clients make or save money, emphasize that. When they see a clear return on investment, price becomes secondary.

This works best for businesses that deliver measurable financial benefits.

3. Funnel Pricing

Use a low-cost offer to bring in clients, then upsell them. You can even sell at a loss if you have a strong process to convert them into high-value buyers.

The advantage? You focus your marketing efforts on a single entry-point product, making lead generation more efficient.

Olly used to do this with his productized service before launching his SaaS.👇

4. Wider Offer Strategy

Offer multiple entry points to attract different types of buyers.

Apple excels at this. Some customers begin with an iPhone, while others start with a Mac or an iPad. Once inside the ecosystem, Apple doesn't focus on upselling them with more expensive products.

They just keep launching new products so that when customers are ready, there’s always something to buy—whether high-end or budget-friendly.

They even sell a polishing cloth 😅.

5. Discount-Oriented Pricing

Some buyers love the feeling of getting a bargain. You can set a higher price with room to negotiate discounts.

This tactic can be effective, but risky. Use it strategically and on a case-by-case basis.

6. Subscription-Based Pricing

Turn one-time buyers into recurring customers. Instead of charging a large upfront fee, offer a subscription with smaller, ongoing payments.

This reduces friction in the buying decision and provides predictable, long-term revenue. SaaS and streaming services thrive on this model, but you can also use it for productized services, like Design Pickle.

7. Performance-Based Pricing

Let results dictate your price. Charge clients based on the outcomes you deliver. This model works well in industries like marketing, consulting, and law, where success is measurable.

Clients love it because it reduces their risk, making it an attractive pricing model.

These tactics aren’t mutually exclusive. Experiment and mix them to find what works best for you and your clients.

That’s it for now, everyone! We’ll meet again next week to discuss some more of this!

Feel free to reply to this email. It goes directly to me.

Cheers,

Yannick