Do not discount your product

I’ve been doing some research on pricing pages and how to increase conversion for call to actions.

You should never apply discounts to pricing pages, if possible.

Do not panic!
If your product is something that you’re proud of and have worked really hard to release to the world, do not consider discounting it. Except in the rare occasions below!

Let’s dig in!

Reason #1 to not discount

The main reason not to apply discounts is that you are teaching and showing users to expect a discount - or that a discount is even possible.

What happens when you take the discount away?
The customer will feel that they’ve wasted an opportunity to get your solution at a better price! 😲😲😲

They’ll just wait and wait around to see if you discount again, or way worse… go and purchase a competitor’s solution.

Reason #2 to not discount

Do not discount items to first-time buyers, try to reward loyalty instead.

People who just purchase your product and want to buy a month of your service or maybe they’re only in it for a one-time hit-and-run do not deserve the discount. You’ve worked hard, why should you? It’s not worth leaving money on the table for someone who you know will not be in it for the ride…

Some exceptions

• Customers who pre-pay:
  If you’re running some kind of deal where a customer can buy your solution early - ahead of your launch. You can offer a discount. This will allow you to see not only that there’s a product/market fit, but also it’s a nice gesture. You’re trade their risk of investing in your upcoming solution, in exchange for saving some money - it’s a trust thing. A good thing.

• Customers who are a favorite of yours:
  When you establish a good working relation with your audience and they end up being repeat-customers (customers that purchase from you repeatedly).
  Or Perhaps they’ve been great customers, no drama, no questions asked, polite, easy to work with, send you referrals - many reasons to be a great customer.
  Those folks you can totally offer a discount. They’re by your side.

• Customers who purchase for long-term:
  This is the typical yearly plan vs monthly plan. Pre-purchasing a whole year (or more) of your product is totally worth a discount.
  Think of it this way: You’re getting the money upfront + you’re going to get to know your customers for a WHOLE year, and if you’re a good product person - you will learn a couple of invaluable things from your customers over the 12 months (patterns of usage, customer insights, customer support, personas, product market fit, marketing A/B testing etc etc)

• Customers who are in verifiable “low-income” group:
  Think of students/academia/other groups of people who might not have the means to purchase at full-price. This is definitely up to you. Not many people discount for students but those who do, proudly do so.

Growth-hacks to price things with a discount and never lose money

Anchoring bias

Let’s say you want to sell a dress for $99 online. The trick is to set the price at a higher price point, perhaps $159 - then strike it and write $99 below it.
It’s all about pricing perception - you never intended to charge $159.

Bundling

Sell multiple items together, at a lower price - this usually works when you have a “main” item to sell (like a big pizza) and then a “freebie” perhaps like an appetizier.

You know you can sell the pizza for $25 and the appetizer for $8 but if you sell both for $29 - there’s a big chance you will sell more pizza!

And that’s it - you’ve learned why you shouldn’t leave money on the table and why you should not discount your product (almost) ever!