Ask HN: How to test price variations?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2988379

by callmeed • 15 years ago

4 2 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

We have a product with a setup fee and a monthly fee (currently $399 + $20/mo).

I'd like to do some testing of variations on the setup price. What's the best way to do this? It seems unwise to simply randomly show different prices A/B style.

- Should we try a higher price for a time period, then a lower price for a time period? Or vice-versa?

- What's a good time period to test? 2 weeks? 1 month? 2 months?

- Other ideas for testing price changes?

tucaz• 15 years ago

From what I've seen, unfortunately the best approach is to use your gut feeling and try different prices over different time :(

I can't confirm this technique (is it?) myself, but I'm in process of publishing something for money and will have to figure this out soon enough too.

Good luck

colin8chSE• 15 years ago

I recommend trying a lower price first, then gradually increase.

1) Your early adopters/ customers will feel like they got a deal. (if you drop the price later they'll feel ripped off) 2) You will get a "baseline" for adoption at a price point, and you can use that for comparison as you increase your price. If your sales decrease significantly, you've hit a value perception/ pricing problem.

We've seen our Vendors successfully test their pricing models this way at Simplified Ecommerce (I'm the Founder)- they can start billing from day one without any coding and easily revise their pricing models in realtime.

Ask HN: How to test price variations?

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