/suede-pricing

name: suede-pricing
description: "Suede AI pricing and packaging: chooses the value metric (seats, usage, credits, outcomes), structures tiers, compares free trial, freemium, and reverse trial, plans willingness to pay research and price increases with grandfathering, and tears down a pricing page for buyer clarity and for search and AI-assistant readability (text prices, matching schema, quotable FAQ). Returns a Pricing Decision Brief or a scored teardown. Use when deciding what to charge, restructuring tiers, pricing AI features with variable compute cost, raising prices, or fixing a pricing page that buyers or AI answers misread. NOT FOR: in-product upgrade screens (use suede-paywalls), offer bonuses and guarantees (use suede-offers), or executing billing changes."
metadata:
  version: 2.1.0

Suede Pricing & Packaging

Suede AI Pricing turns verified product economics, buyer evidence, and commercial constraints into testable prices, value metrics, tiers, and migration plans. It produces a decision brief and measurement plan while keeping billing changes behind explicit approval.

Before Starting

**Check for product marketing context first:** If `.agents/product-marketing.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing.md`, or the legacy `product-marketing-context.md` filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Gather this context (ask if not provided):

1. Business Context

• What type of product? (SaaS, marketplace, e-commerce, service)
• What's your current pricing (if any)?
• What's your target market? (SMB, mid-market, enterprise)
• What's your go-to-market motion? (self-serve, sales-led, hybrid)

2. Value & Competition

• What's the primary value you deliver?
• What alternatives do customers consider?
• How do competitors price?

3. Current Performance

• What's your current conversion rate?
• What's your ARPU and churn rate?
• Any feedback on pricing from customers/prospects?

4. Goals

• Optimizing for growth, revenue, or profitability?
• Moving upmarket or expanding downmarket?

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Pricing Fundamentals

Three axes, decided in this order: **packaging** (what's included per tier), **pricing metric** (what you charge for), **price point** (how much).

Price sits between the next best alternative (the floor) and the customer's perceived value (the ceiling). Cost to serve is a baseline, never the basis.

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Value Metrics

What is a Value Metric?

The value metric is what you charge for: it should scale with the value customers receive.

**Good value metrics:**

• Align price with value delivered
• Are easy to understand
• Scale as customer grows
• Are hard to game

Common Value Metrics

| Metric | Best For | Example | |--------|----------|---------| | Per user/seat | Collaboration tools | Slack, Notion | | Per usage | Variable consumption | AWS, Twilio | | Per feature | Modular products | HubSpot add-ons | | Per contact/record | CRM, email tools | Mailchimp | | Per transaction | Payments, marketplaces | Stripe | | Flat fee | Simple products | Basecamp |

Choosing Your Value Metric

Ask: "As a customer uses more of [metric], do they get more value?"

• If yes → good value metric
• If no → price doesn't align with value

Pricing AI features

When a feature's cost to serve scales with model usage, flat per-seat pricing can turn heavy users unprofitable. Common structures:

• **Hybrid:** a seat or platform fee with included usage, plus credits or overage beyond it.
• **Credits:** one currency across AI actions, priced so the most expensive action still clears margin. Publish what a credit buys in plain words.
• **Outcome-based:** charge per resolved ticket, qualified lead, or completed task, when the outcome is countable and attributable.

For each, model margin at the 90th-percentile user, state included limits on the pricing page, and give buyers a usage view before the bill surprises them.

Defaults to Beat

These are the answers a model reaches for unprompted. Each is allowed, but only once you state why it beats the alternative for this product: never by default: **$9/$29/$99** (or any flat 3x ladder); **Starter/Pro/Enterprise** names that carry no product meaning; **exactly three tiers** when the buyer set is two or four; **20% off annual** as the reflex discount; **"Contact us"** on the top tier, which hides price from buyers and from the agents that now shortlist tools (see Pricing Page Teardown); **per-seat** when usage, records, or transactions track value better.

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Tier Structure Overview

Good-Better-Best Framework

**Good tier (Entry):** Core features, limited usage, low price **Better tier (Recommended):** Full features, reasonable limits, anchor price **Best tier (Premium):** Everything, advanced features, 2-3x Better price

Tier Differentiation

• **Feature gating**: Basic vs. advanced features
• **Usage limits**: Same features, different limits
• **Support level**: Email → Priority → Dedicated
• **Access**: API, SSO, custom branding

**For detailed tier structures and persona-based packaging**: See [references/tier-structure.md](references/tier-structure.md)

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Pricing Research

Van Westendorp Method

Four questions that identify acceptable price range: 1. Too expensive (wouldn't consider) 2. Too cheap (question quality) 3. Expensive but might consider 4. A bargain

Analyze intersections to find optimal pricing zone.

MaxDiff Analysis

Identifies which features customers value most:

• Show sets of features
• Ask: Most important? Least important?
• Results inform tier packaging

**For detailed research methods**: See [references/research-methods.md](references/research-methods.md)

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When to Raise Prices

Signs It's Time

**Market signals:**

• Competitors have raised prices
• Prospects don't flinch at price
• "It's so cheap!" feedback

**Business signals:**

• Conversion well ab