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Don't Blindly Model Your SaaS Pricing on 37signals

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Re: Don't Blindly Model Your SaaS Pricing on 37signals

#61

Post by thenomad »

jwblackwell wrote: post #13

I think the OP makes some very important points here. There's definitely a somewhat fixed mentality when it comes to SaaS pricing and it's easy to fall into the trap that you should be charging something akin to 37signals. Pricing isn't actually something that's as easy to change as you'd believe either. It has huge implications on your actual product, your target market and sales strategy - as the OP points out. Ima…

"It's only recently I've fully started to appreciate just how much money enterprise clients willing drop on "simple" products that meet their needs."

Not just enterprise clients - almost any business.

I run a tiny, cash-strapped film production company and do various bits of Internet Marketing stuff on the side. We're about the smallest entity you could imagine that can still be called a "company".

I'll cheerfully drop $100 or more per month on a service that will save me a day a month of work or increase profits on a project by 10% - because in both cases, I come out ahead.

Consumers are buying on "value", on gut feelings and emotion, and all sorts of other things. Businesses are buying on "will this make me more money than it costs?"

Re: Don't Blindly Model Your SaaS Pricing on 37signals

#62

Post by thenomad »

Joeri wrote: post #50
jwblackwell wrote: post #13

I think the OP makes some very important points here. There's definitely a somewhat fixed mentality when it comes to SaaS pricing and it's easy to fall into the trap that you should be charging something akin to 37signals. Pricing isn't actually something that's as easy to change as you'd believe either. It has huge implications on your actual product, your target market and sales strategy - as the OP points out. Ima…

"If you're anything like me, it's easy to assume everyone lives in a world where $10 for Spotify is a pretty big deal. My friends moan about that price for unlimited music. $200 a month seems huge to me for anything I'd buy. It's only recently I've fully started to appreciate just how much money enterprise clients willing drop on "simple" products that meet their needs." For businesses those SaaS services are a core…

That's a really good way to put it.

Re: Don't Blindly Model Your SaaS Pricing on 37signals

#63

Post by thenomad »

bravoyankee wrote: post #40

Pricing low has nothing to do with being rude. That statement is a major disconnect from reality. I also think that there are many service out there that are buying into this 'high pricing' doctrine and are giving prospective customers sticker shock. These starving young companies can't afford to do that so early in the game. The other day I saw a site on HN selling business ebooks to startups: "how to drive more tra…

Why is $49 for a copywriting ebook overpriced? Speaking personally, if I can get one useful idea from a book on copywriting, the chances are it's going to pay for that $49 somewhere between 10 and 100 times over, perhaps more.

And many copywriting books I've bought had 2 or even more useful ideas in them.

Re: Don't Blindly Model Your SaaS Pricing on 37signals

#64

Post by noahc »

bravoyankee wrote: post #56
noahc wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RE: "I will pay for information if it will help me, but the examples I've given is basic information that's been written about for free so many hundreds of times" I suspect your google-fu is stronger than most. Many people don't have the skills or time to do this. Should I spend 2 or 3 days searching and building a marketing strategy that works in 2012 by filtering through all the stuff written over the last 4 years…

I don't have special google-fu abilities. I just notice there's a glut of ebooks and courses out there that are rehashes of older content - and they are priced way too high. They are priced so high that those who need the information most cant afford it. Stop drinking the Jonestown kool-aid that's been going around my friend. Your time isn't so valuable that you can't spend 15-20 minutes doing a diligent search onlin…

By being on this site you most definitely do have special google-fu abilities. The vast majority of people do not know that the top search result in yellow is an add and that you can do "exact match" searches.

If you can find 40-pages of well documented information and condense it down into clear, actionable information that you can then form a plan from in 15-20 minutes you are a much better man than I am.

For those of us that lack that particular skill set, these are screamingly good deal even at $99. For even more of us who don't personally pay for this, but put it on the company credit card, our company should fire us for wasting company time by trying to do it ourselves and not spend the $39.

Clearly, we disagree, but all I'm saying is that there are a lot of people for which these are a screamingly good deal.

Re: Don't Blindly Model Your SaaS Pricing on 37signals

#65

Post by drudru11 »

jacques_chester wrote: post #34

Entire books are written about pricing[1]. It's time for me to point out, again, that no other business parameter will affect cashflow and profitability more than your pricing . You can adjust your costs all the time. But prices are sticky. Customers remember that something used to be cheaper. Really, again, let me emphasise this. Pricing is the single most important business decision you can make . Rails vs node.js…

Pricing is secondary to product.

If you don't have a good product, nothing else matters.

Once you have a good product, then you focus on pricing.

Once you figure out the product and pricing, then you ...

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