Suede Pricing

Suede Pricing & Packaging

Suede Pricing turns verified product economics, buyer evidence, and commercial

constraints into testable prices, value metrics, tiers, and migration plans.

It produces a decision brief and measurement plan while keeping billing changes

behind explicit approval.

Before Starting

Check for product marketing context first:

If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Gather this context (ask if not provided):

1. Business Context

• What type of product? (SaaS, marketplace, e-commerce, service)
• What's your current pricing (if any)?
• What's your target market? (SMB, mid-market, enterprise)
• What's your go-to-market motion? (self-serve, sales-led, hybrid)

2. Value & Competition

• What's the primary value you deliver?
• What alternatives do customers consider?
• How do competitors price?

3. Current Performance

• What's your current conversion rate?
• What's your ARPU and churn rate?
• Any feedback on pricing from customers/prospects?

4. Goals

• Optimizing for growth, revenue, or profitability?
• Moving upmarket or expanding downmarket?

Pricing Fundamentals

The Three Pricing Axes

1. Packaging — What's included at each tier?

• Features, limits, support level
• How tiers differ from each other

2. Pricing Metric — What do you charge for?

• Per user, per usage, flat fee
• How price scales with value

3. Price Point — How much do you charge?

• The actual dollar amounts
• Perceived value vs. cost

Value-Based Pricing

Price should be based on value delivered, not cost to serve:

• Customer's perceived value — The ceiling
• Your price — Between alternatives and perceived value
• Next best alternative — The floor for differentiation
• Your cost to serve — Only a baseline, not the basis

Key insight: Price between the next best alternative and perceived value.

Value Metrics

What is a Value Metric?

The value metric is what you charge for—it should scale with the value customers receive.

Good value metrics:

• Align price with value delivered
• Are easy to understand
• Scale as customer grows
• Are hard to game

Common Value Metrics

| Metric | Best For | Example |

|--------|----------|---------|

| Per user/seat | Collaboration tools | Slack, Notion |

| Per usage | Variable consumption | AWS, Twilio |

| Per feature | Modular products | HubSpot add-ons |

| Per contact/record | CRM, email tools | Mailchimp |

| Per transaction | Payments, marketplaces | Stripe |

| Flat fee | Simple products | Basecamp |

Choosing Your Value Metric

Ask: "As a customer uses more of [metric], do they get more value?"

• If yes → good value metric
• If no → price doesn't align with value

Tier Structure Overview

Good-Better-Best Framework

Good tier (Entry): Core features, limited usage, low price

Better tier (Recommended): Full features, reasonable limits, anchor price

Best tier (Premium): Everything, advanced features, 2-3x Better price

Tier Differentiation

• Feature gating — Basic vs. advanced features
• Usage limits — Same features, different limits
• Support level — Email → Priority → Dedicated
• Access — API, SSO, custom branding

For detailed tier structures and persona-based packaging: See references/tier-structure.md

Pricing Research

Van Westendorp Method

Four questions that identify acceptable price range:

• Too expensive (wouldn't consider)
• Too cheap (question quality)
• Expensive but might consider
• A bargain

Analyze intersections to find optimal pricing zone.

MaxDiff Analysis

Identifies which features customers value most:

• Show sets of features
• Ask: Most important? Least important?
• Results inform tier packaging

For detailed research methods: See references/research-methods.md

When to Raise Prices

Signs It's Time

Market signals:

• Competitors have raised prices
• Prospects don't flinch at price
• "It's so cheap!" feedback

Business signals:

• Very high conversion rates (>40%)
• Very low churn (<3% monthly)
• Strong unit economics

Product signals:

• Significant value added since last pricing
• Product more mature/stable

Price Increase Strategies

• Grandfather existing — New price for new customers only
• Delayed increase — Announce 3-6 months out
• Tied to value — Raise price but add features
• Plan restructure — Change plans entirely

Pricing Page Best Practices

Above the Fold

• Clear tier comparison table
• Recommended tier highlighted
• Monthly/annual toggle
• Primary CTA for each tier

Common Elements

• Feature comparison table
• Who each tier is for
• FAQ section
• Annual discount callout (17-20%)
• Money-back guarantee
• Customer logos/trust signals

Pricing Psychology

• Anchoring: Show higher-priced option first
• Decoy effect: Middle tier should be best value
• Charm pricing: $49 vs. $50 (for value-focused)
• Round pricing: $50 vs. $49 (for premium)

Pricing Checklist

Before Setting Prices

• [ ] Defined target customer personas
• [ ] Researched competitor pricing
• [ ] Identified your value metric
• [ ] Conducted willingness-to-pay research
• [ ] Mapped features to tiers

Pricing Structure

• [ ] Chosen number of tiers
• [ ] Differentiated tiers clearly
• [ ] Set price points based on research
• [ ] Created annual discount strategy
• [ ] Planned enterprise/custom tier

Task-Specific Questions

• What pricing research have you done?
• What's your current ARPU and conversion rate?
• What's your primary value metric?
• Who are your main pricing personas?
• Are you self-serve, sales-led, or hybrid?
• What pricing changes are you considering?

Boundaries

• Do not create or change billing products, prices, subscriptions, or customer

migrations without verified live state, a maximum-cost check, and explicit

approval.

• Do not present willingness-to-pay, conversion, churn, or revenue impact as

measured unless current research or product data supports it.

• Do not publish pricing copy, choose grandfathering policy, or commit the

business to a price; return a recommendation, assumptions, and validation

plan for the user to decide.

Routing

• Use suede-paywalls for in-product upgrade and paywall experiences.
• Use suede-offers for bonuses, guarantees, and offer framing.
• Use suede-ab-testing to validate pricing-page or packaging hypotheses.
• Use suede-revops for approved deal-desk and pipeline implementation.