💰 Pricing
🌐 Website
This playbook requires the following signals:
Monitored Signals
1. Why should I care about reduced pricing complexity?
Here’s why it’s a big deal:
|
2. Examples of reduced pricing complexity
A common example of this is a competitor abandoning a complex pricing calculator in favor of traditional, easy-to-understand tiers.
For instance, a competitor who previously had a complex pricing calculator with sliders for users and features might scrap it in favor of three simple, fixed-price tiers: "Starter," "Growth," and "Enterprise." This move sacrifices granular flexibility for clarity. It makes it much easier for a prospect to quickly understand which plan is the right fit and what the predictable monthly cost will be.
3. How to monitor competitors for pricing complexity changes
A shift to a simpler pricing structure is a clear visual and structural change on a competitor's website. You need a system to detect the reduction or removal of these complex elements.
Zimt is the go-to competitor monitoring tool for B2B SaaS companies. We have over 35 competitor playbooks you can launch on autopilot, including one designed specifically for this scenario. Activating the playbook allows you to:
Monitor Website Structure & Wording: Automatically track pricing pages for the removal of interactive elements like sliders and calculators, and a shift to static, tiered pricing.
Get Intelligent Alerts: Receive real-time notifications with before-and-after screenshots when a competitor simplifies their pricing page, so you can immediately analyze their strategic pivot.
Access This Playbook: Put this playbook, and many more, to work. Automated.
If you're not using Zimt, you must manually check competitor pricing pages frequently to catch these critical GTM changes.
4. Playbook Response Options
4.1 Attack Their Lack of Flexibility
ⓘ Best for: When your customers and the broader market genuinely value granular, usage-based pricing, and the competitor's move to fixed tiers is a step backward. | ||
Goal: Position the competitor's new, simple pricing as rigid and unfair, forcing customers to pay for features and capacity they don't use. | ||
Strategic Rationale: This leverages the primary benefit of your flexible pricing model against their new, simpler one. You frame your complexity as "fairness and flexibility" and their simplicity as "rigidity and waste," appealing to customers who want to pay only for what they use. |
Launch a "pay only for what you use" campaign.
Develop a marketing campaign that champions the fairness and cost-effectiveness of your usage-based model, contrasting it with the "one-size-fits-all" approach of bundled tiers.
Create content on "the problem with bundled pricing".
Publish a blog post or guide that highlights how customers can end up overpaying for bundled features or capacity they don't need with fixed-tier plans.
Update sales battle cards to highlight their rigidity.
Arm the sales team with questions that expose the downside of the competitor's new model, such as, "What happens if you only need half the users in that plan? You still have to pay the full price."
Gather testimonials from customers who have saved money.
Source and promote quotes from customers who specifically praise the flexibility of your pricing model and how it has saved them money compared to fixed-tier competitors.
4.2 Match Their Simplicity
ⓘ Best for: If you also have a complex pricing model and suspect that the market is tired of complexity and craves the simplicity the competitor is now offering. | ||
Goal: Neutralize the competitor's new advantage by simplifying your own pricing, preventing them from owning the "simple and predictable" narrative. | ||
Strategic Rationale: This acknowledges that the competitor may have correctly identified a market pain point (pricing complexity). By matching their move to simplify, you stay competitive and show that you are also listening to the market's desire for clarity. |
Analyze your own sales cycle for pricing-related friction.
Talk to your sales team and analyze deal data to see if the complexity of your current pricing model is a common objection or a reason for losing deals.
Design new, simplified pricing tiers.
Work with Product and Finance to create new, fixed-price tiers that are easy to understand and communicate, similar to the competitor's new model.
Update your pricing page to reflect the new structure.
Launch a redesigned pricing page that showcases the new, simpler tiers and removes any complex calculators or sliders.
Announce your new "simpler, easier" pricing.
Run a marketing campaign to announce your new pricing model, positioning it as a response to customer feedback and a commitment to transparency.
4.3 Defend and Improve Your Flexible Pricing Model
ⓘ Best for: When you have a flexible pricing model that you believe is genuinely superior, but you recognize that its complexity can be a point of friction for prospects. | ||
Goal: Proactively educate the market on the benefits of your flexible pricing to preempt the competitor's "simple is better" narrative. | ||
Strategic Rationale: This strategy defends your existing model by addressing its primary weakness: perception. Instead of changing your model or attacking theirs, you focus on improving the user experience and educational resources around your pricing to turn a perceived weakness (complexity) into a well-explained strength (fairness). |
Create a clear explainer video for your pricing page.
Produce a short (under 2 minutes) video that walks a prospect through your pricing model, explaining the benefits of flexibility and showing how to use any calculators or sliders.
Publish a guide on your pricing philosophy.
Write a comprehensive blog post titled "How Our Pricing Works and Why It’s Fairer," using examples to show how customers save money with a flexible model.
Improve the user experience of your pricing page.
Work with your UX team to simplify the design of your pricing page. Add tooltips, clear examples, and pre-populated scenarios to your pricing calculator to make it easier for prospects to understand.
Certify the sales team as pricing experts.
Conduct a dedicated training session to ensure every sales rep can confidently and simply explain the benefits of your flexible pricing model over the competitor's new, rigid tiers.