During the "Payments and Monetization for Freemium Businesses" at Freemium Summit I tweeted this:
That started a number of conversations on Twitter and moderator Dave McClure asked for some tips and even brought it up again to the panel. Unfortunately, at least one on the panel again laughed it off. I was about to let it go when it reared its ugly head during a recent Quick Start session with a SaaS startup where they asked about Salesforce.com's pricing page and pricing strategy. This wouldn't be a problem except this company is not a CRM firm and they sell to the government.
Based on that I decided to finish and publish the following post that had been queued up for a little while. Your feedback is always welcome.
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Its okay to admit that you copied 37signals pricing page design; in fact, admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. Frankly, why wouldn't you copy them? If you Google "pricing page design" there are numerous blog posts analyzing how 37signals pricing page is designed, some that even show their pricing page's evolution for the last few years. This is really cool if you are a big fan of 37signals. However, if you are doing it to try to figure out how to develop your own pricing strategy and pricing page... YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.
If you aren't competing in the same market for the same customers with the same offering and market positioning as 37signals (the go-to company for small web startups) or Salesforce.com (the company that up-and-comming SaaS firms look-up to) then you shouldn't worry about how they price their offering or what their pricing page looks like. For all of the ideas from their pricing pages that you'll want to take along there are as many or more that you'll want to avoid like the plague.
Pricing is marketing and copying another vendor's pricing page design, copy, pricing strategy, etc. just doesn't make sense; even just to start out with as some might suggest. Take the design of your pricing strategy or pricing page lightly at your peril. In an Integrated Business Architecture like SaaS (or web, mobile, etc.) where automation is key to scaling the sales process, your pricing page design is a key component of that process. Execute poorly and expect poor results.
There are some things you should keep in mind when developing your pricing page that you could glean from studying 37signals or others' pricing pages:
- Pricing should match your value prop & market needs
- Make sure the overall page design reflects your marketing strategy
- Make sure you have a definitive call to action
- Speak the language of your audience
- Sign-up button above the fold
- If you use pricing bundles or tiers its good to have an odd number
But from there, it really depends on your offering, your market, and your position therein. Repeat after me: Pricing is marketing, and your pricing page should be a reflection of your overall pricing strategy, which should come from an overall marketing strategy. Just throwing some numbers on a page in columns with drop shadows and rounded corners won't cut it. Pricing page design should not be glossed over; it can make or break your business.
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Author: Lincoln Murphy (@lincolnmurphy on Twitter)