Per seat or per use
Charging per seat or per unit of use changes who notices the bill. The finance contacts who pay the invoice, recruited for the study, show which pricing metric they can forecast and which they would push back on.
Use caseOptimize pricing
Optimize pricing with AI interviews
Set price levels and decide what goes into each tier from what buyers value and say they would pay, with the people who approve a purchase and the people who use the product heard separately.
Value first, price second
A tier structure is a set of bets about who values what, and each bet can be checked with buyers before the price list is printed.
Value before any number
Buyers describe what the product is worth to them, what they compare it against and which outcomes would justify a higher price, all before a price appears, so no figure anchors what they say.
Signers and users, interviewed apart
The person who signs the purchase and the people who use the product often value different things, so each group is interviewed separately and a tier is never built around the wrong group's priorities.
Willingness to pay, measured
Alongside the interviews, a price survey asks buyers at which prices the product would seem a bargain, expensive or out of reach, which shows how many find each candidate level acceptable.
The world's most ambitious teams research with Pulse.
GrowwWhat belongs in each tier
Tiers work when each step up buys something a distinct group of buyers wants enough to pay for, and falter when the step looks arbitrary.
Features grouped by what buyers pay for
Analysis groups every feature buyers mentioned by how they talked about it, as expected in any version, worth paying extra for, or irrelevant, with the supporting quotes for each placement.
Which feature sits in which tier
With features sorted, the team decides what anchors the entry tier, what justifies the step up and what stays an add-on, checking each placement against the share of buyers willing to pay for that feature.
Where sensitivity comes from
Buyers explain why price weighs heavily or lightly for them, whether a tight approval limit, a lower-priced substitute or unclear value, which tells the team whether a lower price or a clearer offer is the fix.
How Pulse does it
Define the line to price
Hear value before price
Measure willingness to pay
Build the tiers
A sample study: Price sensitivity
Understand how customers perceive price, value and willingness to pay.
- When choosing something like [product or service], what matters most to you?
- How do you normally decide whether something in this category is worth what it costs?
- What would you compare [product or service] with when deciding whether the price feels reasonable?
The price sensitivity template
Run this studyThe method behind it
Several established methods inform price levels and tiers. Van Westendorp's price sensitivity meter asks four questions about when a product seems too cheap, a bargain, expensive and too expensive, producing a range of acceptable prices. Gabor-Granger asks whether buyers would purchase at a series of prices, building a demand curve. Conjoint analysis estimates how much each feature is worth relative to price, which makes it the method of choice when tiers and bundles must be designed together. Qualitative interviews complete the picture by explaining how buyers judge value, what they compare against and which features they would pay more for. Good pricing research describes the offer realistically, recruits the people who actually decide, reads results by segment, and treats stated willingness to pay with caution, validating the chosen price with a limited launch or market test before rolling it out.
Related
A price list buyers can find their way through
The free plan's ceiling
A free tier's limits decide how many users ever pay. Asking free users what they would have to hit before upgrading, and grouping their answers by the limit named, shows product where the free plan's ceiling should sit.
Monthly or annual billing
Offered monthly and annual billing at each candidate price in a survey, buyers show finance how many would commit to a year, and at what discount the annual plan starts to win.