Pricing Your SaaS Product

Final: March 23, 2015

“Nothing is more critical to a software-as-a-service business
than its pricing strategy”

- Steven Sinofsky, Partner, Andreeson Horowitz

2
Pricing on anything other than value to customer can leave significant
amount of money on the table

How would you price Picasso’s 1955

“Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O)” at 2015 sale?

Cost-Based Pricing Competitor-Based Pricing Value-Based Pricing

Price =
Price = COGS + Premium Price = Market Price - Discount
What It’s Worth to Customer

5’ X 5’ Premier Canvas $200 “(Version O)” is part of a series

Hypothesized Sources of Value
for which past auction data exists
Deluxe Oil Paints $150 for Buyer at Auction (former Prime
V. Auction Sale Price 2015 Adj. Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabir
Fine Brushes $100 Al Thani):
H 1997 $7.2 M $10.6 M
• Investment thesis that value will
Other Supplies $100 J 2006 $18.6 M $21.6 M rise over time
K 1997 $6.6 M $9.8 M • Aesthetics and enjoyment
30 Hrs Labor ($100 / hr) $3,000 • Addition to personal collection
L 2011 $11.4 M $12.0 M • Perception of owner as an
TOTAL COGS $3,550 educated person
M 1997 $10.0 M $14.8 M
• Cultural prestige for Qatar
+ 15% Markup $383 O 1997 $31.9 M $47.1 M

$3,933 $19,320,000 $179,400,000

Total COGS Plus Markup Average of adj. benchmark prices Amount of actual sale plus fees

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Pricing should be based on value to customer

Cost-Based Pricing Competitor-Based Pricing Value-Based Pricing

Use Rarely Use Sparingly Use Predominantly

Prices are in-line with customers’

past expectations and vocabulary
Revenues will cover costs Maximizes revenue by charging
Direct comparability exists
Requires little research to set each customer maximum will pay
between players (advantageous
in an RFP process)

One price for all customer Requires extensive research and

Competitors may not exist for an
segments experimentation to refine
innovative product or service
Undercharges customers willing Charging too high a price may
Can create a “race to the bottom”
to pay more create margins that tempt entry of
between competitors, eroding
May not stay profitable if costs more competitors (“price
margins
change umbrella”)

Virtually never the correct strategy Sometimes appropriate for very

because it undercharge customers mature markets with established Nearly always the best strategy
willing to pay more, and because price points, but usually not the best because it secures the greatest
your margins may be unsustainable strategy because it undercharges possible revenue for a product
if your cost structure changes customers willing to pay more

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How to price your SaaS product
1 Define your upper bound: The maximum value your product has for customers

Competitive Advantage Customer

2 Define your lower bound: The minimum you must charge to cover your products’ costs

Costs (both fixed costs and variable costs)

3 Identify any reasons to charge less than your maximum value

Competition Discounts

4 Structure your pricing model as a compromise between upper bound and lower bound

Value Metric SaaS Pricing Models

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1. Define your upper bound

At most fundamental level, your pricing strategy hinges on

Advantage
how unique your product is
Unique Similar to Other Products
• Differentiated • Commoditized • Generic
Also known as… • Compete on product • Compete on price
• “Price Makers” • “Price Takers”

• Product functionality
Your product • Customer service
• Patent exclusivity Price is the only
may be unique • Brand perception meaningful differentiation
in terms of… • Geographic focus / language
• Go-to-market strategy

Your customers
Whichever product best Whichever product
decide how to meets their needs has the lowest price
buy based on…

• Increasing volume to drive scale

• Advertising
You’ll win • Taking out as much cost as possible
• Customer insights
by investing in… • Research and development
from the value chain (vertical integration,
advertising, labor, etc.)

The more unique your product,

the greater your ability to charge a premium

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1. Define your upper bound

At most fundamental level, your pricing strategy hinges on

Advantage
how unique your product is
Unique Similar to Other Products
Compete on Product Compete on Price

Talent Analytics Software Payroll Software

Payroll is not differentiated: either employees
HR Talent software is very differentiated: quality
are paid correctly and on-time, or they are not.
and usefulness of analyses, ease of use.
Software
Therefore, price is the most important driver for
Therefore, customers are willing to pay a
purchasing. ADP is the largest, oldest player,
premium for the solution that best meets their
and its scale keeps costs low, so it is difficult
needs and providers compete on quality
for new entrants to compete

Fiji Water Grocery Store Generic

Price: $5 / bottle Price: $0.25 / bottle

Customers pay more for Fiji At the grocery store, people buy
Water Water because it is marketed as whatever water is cheapest. The
elite and because it is sold at grocery store brand thus tries to
high-end locations. Customers be cheapest by selling in bulk
pay for how it makes them feel and owning supply chain
about water. (vertical integration)

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1. Define your upper bound

How will your product contribute to customers’ bottom line?

Customer
This is important to understand because
clients will estimate the ROI of
How will your product purchasing your product by comparing
Increase your price to its bottom-line contribution
Revenue?

How will your product

Decrease
Costs?

Direct Revenue Contribution Direct Cost Cutting

• New leads • Price difference from competitor
• Customer retention • Time / labor expense

Indirect Revenue Contribution Indirect Cost Cutting

• Brand perception • Reduces errors / risk

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1. Define your upper bound

What drives your customers’ switching costs?

Customer

Switching costs are the incremental expenses, inconveniences and risks

incurred by your customer when they switch software providers.

They are a double-edged sword for SaaS businesses:

at first, an impediment for adoption, and eventually, a tool for retention

Adoption: Retention:
Minimizing Switching Costs Increasing Switching Costs
Offer an excellent product and experience
that gives customers no reason to look elsewhere

Freemium models acknowledge the Build a personal, trusting relationship with decision makers
upfront cost of switching and lower the
risk of trying new software Incorporate network benefits whereby customers benefit
from having other customers using your product
Support the migration of data from
existing platforms, or the entry of new Offer data-driven insights that platforms with fewer customers
data into your platform can’t match (benchmarks, industry trends, etc.)

Minimize re-training costs through Integrate with other business applications

product ease-of-use, help desks and
training / reference materials Build a large user base within your customers’ companies

Patents and long-term contracts are helpful structural

strategies, but are not ultimately sustainable

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1. Define your upper bound

What are your key customer segments?

Customer

Customer segments are groups of customers that have similar purchasing behavior.

What are The results of an effective customer segmentation are:

customer • Measurable: Quantifiable and based on rigorous measurement
• Addressable: You are able to affect and influence group behavior
segments?
• Stable: Segments are unlikely to change in near future
• Consistent: Groups stay similarly clumped through customer lifecycle

• Charge higher prices to customer segments that are less price-sensitive and / or that
derive greater value from your product
How does • Increase your competitive advantage by providing a feature or service especially
valuable to a certain segment
segmentation • Prioritize high-profit customer segments and deprioritize low-profit customer segments
help you price? • Improve your advertising and marketing by targeting the most effective communication
channels and messages
• Boost conversion at different funnel points by refining product and its solutions

How do you One or a combination of the following may be used to derive a segmentation:
• Existing customer data: Do you see clumps or patterns in usage?
create a
• Customer research (surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc.): What do your customers
customer tell you about themselves?
segmentation? • External market research: What patterns exist in the broader market?

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1. Define your upper bound

What are your key customer segments?

Customer
Your customer segments may be described in terms of their…

Needs Behaviors Demographics

Describing
Useful For Creating value propositions Targeting different segments
customer segments

Answers the
What do customers need? How do customers behave? Who are our customers?
Question

• Sales process
Data that • Relative prioritization of • Frequency and type of • Revenues
price, quality, convenience, product use • Number of employees
Measures
customer service, etc. • Loyalty • Industry
their • How predictable their • Tech literacy • Geography
Preferences demand is • Price sensitivity • Business model
• Marketing channel usage

• Observations • Customer onboarding

How to Customer interviews, • Transaction data questions
Find Data surveys, focus groups, etc. • Web, app or other tracked • Secondary market data
interaction patterns

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1. Define your upper bound

Example of pricing structure broken out by customer segment

Customer

Three types of customers use

Bidsketch: agencies, studios and
freelancers.

Each group has

a different price sensitivity,
and each group is looking
for slightly different features
Though each feature costs roughly
the same to provide,
Bidsketch charges its
least price-sensitive customers
(agencies) the most for this access
and keeps a low price for its most
price sensitive customers
(freelancers)

This way, Bidsketch gets the most

money possible from each group: no
one overpays, and no one underpays

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1. Define your upper bound

How price sensitive are your customer segments?

Customer

Less Price Sensitive More Price Sensitive

• High-margin business like financial services • Low-margin business like grocery or

restaurant
• When your product is necessary for
operations (e.g., a factory will pay hundreds • Supplier oversight exists (government or
of dollars to replace a small gear that has subcontractor)
thrown its line out of commission)
• Uncertainty about how much they may use
• Reacting out of fear: Your product addresses and thus what much eventual price may be
a strategic anxiety and leadership wants to
feel they have taken it seriously with an
expensive solution (e.g., security software)

• When price is taken as a proxy for quality

because your product is not understood well

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1. Define your upper bound

Does your customer understand the value you provide?

Customer
SaaS products often face challenges in the gap between the value
they can actually provide and the value their customers perceive
• Businesses may be reluctant to change established processes and
risk customer-facing mistakes: “Our current solution isn’t great, but I
know for sure that it works”
• Cost associated with devoting time to transitioning and learning
new technology away from revenue-generating activities: “Every
minute I spend fiddling with installation is a minute I’m not selling”
• Human beings by nature tend to under-value unfamiliar
experiences: “Sure, you’ll cut out three complex and time-intensive
intermediary steps, but I’ve gotten so used to them, they don’t
annoy me anymore”
• Decision makers may lack tech savvy: “Cloud-based? Like it’s in
the atmosphere?”

Where customers are skeptical of or unfamiliar with your product,

the time it takes to better understand its value is effectively a
perceived a “price” to its use

Therefore, especially innovative, disruptive or complex products

will often benefit from sharply discounted or free trial periods to
counterbalance perceived “expense” of using product

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 1. Define your upper bound

Hypothetical: Determining the upper bound for a

Advantage Customer
loan software company
Pricing Approximate
Question Answer Implication Upper Bound
How does • Increases loan officer productivity such that $20,000 value
$20,000
this product reduce most customers can eliminate one position for typical customer
per year
customer costs? • Decreases risk of data entry error per year

How does $5,000 value

this product increase Typical customers see a 10% lift in renewal rate for typical customer $25,000
customer revenue? per year

How unique This product is very unique because it offers High price can
$25,000
is this product? features specific to rural customers be defended

What type of switching Customers face very high switching costs: data Pricing should
costs do these migration, re-training officers, high risk if be lower, $10,000
customers face? implementation is flawed especially upfront

Do customers Customers are very skeptical of the value. Existing Pricing should
understand this pen-and-paper systems have worked well for a long be lower, $5,000
product’s value? time, and many decision-makers are not tech literate especially upfront

What are major Biggest segments are microfinance organizations

Neutral $5,000
customer segments? that are non-profit, and that are for-profit.

How price sensitive • For-profit orgs are somewhat price sensitive Discount for $5,000
are customers? • Non-profit orgs are very price sensitive non-profit orgs $2,000

Prices cannot be higher than this upper bound

(shown here as annual licensing fee, but could be charged in other ways)
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2. Define your lower bound

What costs does your pricing need to cover to support

profitability?
Costs

Even if your strategy does not require immediately profitability,

you should understand the revenue you need to break even and become profitable

Fixed Costs Variable Costs

Fixed costs are set costs that do not increase or Variable costs rise and fall depending on how many
decrease as you sell more products products you sell
For example, if you rent office space, your rent is the For example, if you employ customer service agents,
same regardless of how many subscriptions you sell as you gain more customers, you will need to hire more
agents to support those customers’ needs
Other examples include:
• Executive compensation Other examples include:
• Product development • Data storage and server space
• Legal approval of products • Advertising
• Certifications and registrations • Sales commission
• Customer service (training, onboarding, support)
• Third party licenses
• Risk and liability
• Insurance

Typically most relevant for SaaS businesses

If covering your costs requires a price point that your customers are not willing to pay,
you should very seriously reconsider your business model

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2. Define your lower bound

Hypothetical: Determining the lower bound for pricing for a

background check provider
Costs

This company provides background check and data reports,

and charges its customers based on the number of reports they purchase

Fixed Costs Variable Costs

Costs Per Report
Cost Per Report
Costs Per Year
Annual licensing Database Fee $0.50 Number of Cost Per
$10,000
fee Reports Report
Other Fee $0.05
Executive payroll $200,000 1,000 $760.59
Report Assembly $0.02
Office Overhead $500,000 5,000 $152.59
Account Mgmt payroll $0.01
Other Overhead $50,000 10,000 $76.59
Support payroll $0.01
TOTAL $760,000 100,000 $8.19
TOTAL $0.59
500,000 $2.11

To break even,
prices per score
can’t be set below
this lower bound

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 3. Identify reasons to charge less than your maximum value

What do you need to know about competitors’ pricing?

Competition

Competitors’ pricing is important context for your pricing decisions:

• Your customers will use competitors’ pricing as a benchmark
• Ability to maintain profitability at a lower price point may be an important competitive
advantage
• Competitors’ structure may be effective and refined over time, and may work for your
business as well
• The industry may have common terms, units of sale, contract structure. In such case,
you should be able to translate your value into that language (even if you don’t adopt the
same terms) so that customers can compare pricing and so you can participate in
bidding / RFP processes

However, beware relying too heavily on competitors’ pricing

• See Slide 4

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3. Identify reasons to charge less than your maximum value

Significant variation in SaaS pricing limits usefulness of

Competition
competitor pricing as benchmark

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Pricing

Per User, Per Month

= Price Tier

$0 $50 $100 $150 $200

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3. Identify reasons to charge less than your maximum value

Should you undercut your competitors’ price?

Competition

Under certain circumstances, undercutting competitors’ prices can be advantageous,

even when your product is differentiated by unique or superior features

While SAP invested heavily to readapt its CD-based HR

You have a very different cost structure
software for the cloud, cloud-first Workday did not need its
that your competitors cannot match pricing to cover those costs and could undercut prices

Constant Contact dominated SME email marketing without

You want to take share
competition for a decade. MailChimp offered a pricing tier
from an established business identical to CC’s lowest paid tier for free to entice switching

Your volume allows for unit economics As the dominant player for remote servers, Amazon Web
that are cost prohibitive for new entrants Services keeps its prices low to starve out new entrants

However, be very careful!

You may realize greater revenues from fewer customers paying higher prices

Your competitor may also lower prices and engage in a price war

Customers may perceive your product as lower quality, simply because the price is lower

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3. Identify reasons to charge less than your maximum value

Discounting: When do you lower your prices?

Discounts

Think of discounts as a way that you can incentivize customers

to behaviors that benefit your company in the long term

Volume The more a customer purchases, Hubspot charges $200 for 100 contacts ($2 each), $800 for
Discounts the lower price they pay 1,000 ($0.80 each) or $2,400 for 10,000 ($0.24 each)

Prepayment / Customers who agree to a longer Evernote charges $5 per month or $45 per year (effectively
Commitment commitment pay a lower price $3.75 per month)

Selling a product at a loss so Printers are often sold to consumers at a loss, and profit
Loss Leader customer to buy other products then come from selling ink over the lifetime of the printer

Microsoft Office bundles its most popular products

Most desirable products are paired
Bundling with less desirable products
(Outlook, Word, Excel) with slower-moving products
(OneNote, Publisher, Access)

Customers receive a discount when Dropbox provides users 500MB storage for each person
Referrals they refer a new customer they refer who subsequently opens an account

Proof-of- A customer who can provide a Postmates delivers Starbucks coffee at a loss in exchange
Concept newer product with credibility for the marketing opportunity

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 3. Identify reasons to charge less than your maximum value

Selecting a value metric: What are your actually charging for?

Value Metric

The increment of your product for which you charge for increased access:
Definition • “Our product costs $X per Y”
• “For each Y, we charge $X”

• Users / accounts • Contacts • Timeliness / speed

Common SaaS • Bandwidth • Customer support
• Access to certain features
Value Metrics • Messages / emails • Storage

Rooted in your customer segmentation and linked to your unique competitive advantage
for each segment
Best Practices Grow with your customer: They pay you more when they are making more money
Intuitive and in your customer’s language. For example, a “mom and pop” business
looking for video hosting may not understand bandwidth or its drivers

Overwhelming customer with choice. May distract from unique advantage or lead to
negative emotions such as confusion or uncertainty
Being perceived as tricky or trying to take advantage of your customer’s ignorance,
Avoid or Tread accidental overuse
Carefully Be cautious about using number of users as your metric. Often, the more people who
use your product, the greater the switching cost for the customer, which is to your long-
term benefit. Also, there are likely a maximum number of potential users within a
company, providing a ceiling to your reoccurring revenues

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 4. Structure your pricing model as a compromise between the upper bound and lower bound

Four common SaaS pricing structures

Structure

Free access to core services, and a

1 Freemium premium for advanced or niche services

A pricing strategy
2 Consumption “Pay as you go” on a usage basis often combines
elements of these

Volume discounts
3 Tiered at certain levels of usage

Perpetual and outright ownership of a software license

Perpetual
4 This structure was more common for CD-ROM based software and
License
is rarely used for modern products.

Source: “Software as a Service Pricing Strategies,” Bessemer Venture Partners, 2013

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4. Structure your pricing model as a compromise between the upper bound and lower bound

1 Freemium
Structure

Definition Free access to core services, and a premium for advanced or niche services

Your customer cannot adequately understand the true value of your product (and
Assumption thus assess their willingness to pay) without experiencing it

SaaS businesses in general are well-suited for freemium models because they make the
bulk of their profits on reoccurring fees over a long time horizon, and can thus recoup upfront
investment in a customer relationship
When customers realize more value with more use, and thus feel they can “afford” upgrade
Best Case
Large number of free users can allow you to study their behavior and improve your product
Uses
When value can be understood quickly and doesn’t require complex onboarding / integration
When free customers provide referrals that can turn into paying customers
When you have received a large amount of funding from investors seeking rapid growth

When the cost to serve free users is unsustainable (hardware, human labor, etc.)
When the free offering is too good and customers fail to convert
“Free” may give perception of lack of quality
Watch Out!
If you are pursuing a small or very specialized market, freemium may anchor your product to
a low price while failing to provide a large volume of customers to convert
Be careful not to overly rely on “free” to bring users. Marketing is still important

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 4. Structure your pricing model as a compromise between the upper bound and lower bound

1 Freemium
Structure

“Freemium” products typical limit service along one or more of these dimensions

Capacity Feature Use-Case Time

Limited by Certain features are

Certain categories of A free trial expires
number of users, free, and others are
customers use the after a certain amount
videos, messages, restricted to paying
product for free of time
emails, etc. customers

Assumes certain customers will be supported indefinitely and never pay Customers pay or leave

Example Example Example Example

LinkedIn displays
Dropbox provides advanced search Amazon Prime allows Salesforce offers full
free storage up to fields to all users, but students to use its access to all features
2GB only subscribers can service for free for 30 days
use them

Source: “Software as a Service Pricing Strategies,” Bessemer Venture Partners, 2013

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4. Structure your pricing model as a compromise between the upper bound and lower bound

2 Consumption
Structure

“Pay as you go” with a set price per unit of consumption Often combined with
Definition volume discounts that may be negotiated as part of a contract

Assumption Customers understand the value of your product, but can’t predict their demand

Very easy to communicate to a customer

Best Case Addresses anxiety around unpredictable usage
Uses Higher prices for lower usage pass along increased costs for lower volumes
Flexibility may be part of your value proposition to customers

Because revenues may not be predictable, customer base should be

Watch Out! diversified to prevent cash flow problems

Amazon Web Services charges customers for only the bandwidth they use each
Example month. Bandwidth usage is often unpredictable for customers and Amazon’s
ability to cover spikes in traffic is part of its value proposition

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4. Structure your pricing model as a compromise between the upper bound and lower bound

3 Tiered
Structure

• Volume discounts at certain levels of usage

Definition • Often overlaps with “freemium,” where the first tier of use is free

Assumption Both you and your customer intend to have a long-term, indefinite relationship

A customer’s usage is expected to increase over time

Best Case Increased tiers should be linked to both tangible and intangible benefits
Uses (increasing levels of customer service, etc.) to provide a feeling of value
Provides predictable reoccurring revenue

Tier placement should be rooted in data and customer behavior

Watch Out! Customers may feel locked into an arrangement that may not meet their future
needs

Salesforce has five pricing tiers that range from $5 / user to $260 / user,
Example depending on included features for their membership

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4. Structure your pricing model as a compromise between the upper bound and lower bound

A tiered SaaS pricing model is typically combines customer

segmentation or usage levels with value metrics
Price Tiers

Customer Segments vs. Value Metric Usage Levels vs. Value Metric

Customer Segment Usage Level

Segment A Segment B Segment C X of Metric Y of Metric Z of Metric

Price $X $X $X Price $X $X $X

Metric A Amount Amount Amount Metric A Amount Amount Amount

Metric B Amount Amount Amount Metric B Amount Amount Amount

Metric C Amount Amount Amount Metric C Amount Amount Amount

Example Example

Weebly offers several packages

Salesforce charges based only on
for make-your-own websites: a
the number of user accounts with
“professional” package for
access to the product. Its pricing
businesses that do not sell online,
doesn’t vary whether those users
and an “ecommerce” package for
are for a hedge fund or a hospital.
businesses that do sell online

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 4. Structure your pricing model as a compromise between the upper bound and lower bound

What else should you charge for?

Price Tiers

Your needs may require charging additional fees on top of reoccurring revenue:
• Set-up, onboarding or installation fees
• Maintenance or service fees
• Consulting, problem solving or other ongoing optimization

However, your preference should be to bake these costs into reoccurring pricing, as
charging additional fees can have deleterious consequences
• Increases risk of trying your new product or service
• May prompt reevaluation of continuing with your service
• May cause resentment or feelings of distrust

If you must charge additional fees, preserve your customer’s trust:

• Be upfront and honest about the fee structure; don’t try to hide them or sneak them in
• Explain why they are necessary and the value they bring to customers’ business

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Examples

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Hubspot:
Software to manage marketing leads

Onboarding fee

Value metric:
Number of contacts

Incorporates
freemium

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Hootsuite:
Software to manage social media accounts

Defines pricing by
customer segment
Incorporates
freemium

Features are selected

based on value to
customer segment

32
Docusign:
eSignatures for legal documents

Varies product offering by

customer segment

Special bulk
pricing
available for
higher volume
Two value metrics:
number of documents,
number of users Above unlimited number of
documents, access to other
features defines offering

33
Zendesk:
Helpdesk management for technology companies

Free trial accustoms

customers to better features

Discounted
pricing with
year-long
commitment

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