Other SaaS pricing strategies to counteract Stagflation

May 27, 2023

     earlier presented earlier previously on SaaS previously presented earlier on fees pricing and packaging to fight the stagflation threat until 2022. The presentation was based on the previous version that was changed at the end of March, 2023 under the direction of David Vogelpohl. To learn more or check out the presentation from earlier, look through the details of the end of this article.

Pricing the price of software as in a service (SaaS) isn't easy enough, even in the most favorable of times, but figuring out how to set an appropriate price that will generate additional revenue during times of inflation is even more challenging.

This article provides ideas for enhancing the packaging and pricing of your SaaS products on a shaky market

What exactly is Stagflation?

In simple terms, stagflation is an economic issue that is influenced by three primary components:

  • The economy is slowing down.
  • The level of inflation is extreme.
  • An extremely high unemployment rate.

There's more pressure than ever before on:

  • The pockets of potential customers you want to draw.
  • Customer wallets you currently have and want to upgraded.

This is the reason why having a closer look at your SaaS pricing model becomes crucial in order to keep building your business during an economic recession.

Using Your SaaS Pricing Model to Fight Stagflation

The easiest answer is raising the rates you charge until you see that you're not the sole person to have this happen.

Over a third SaaS software and digital goods customers grew their price over the last year.

Graphs showing that over a third of  companies raised prices recently.

It is interesting to note the fact that SaaS firms tend to hike rates that are higher than inflation rates.

This one -- and it shouldn't come as unexpected, generally boosts revenues, but it could be a challenge to attain at a time where customers don't have as much money to spend in an economy that is struggling.

The need to reconsider pricing and packages is one of the few options which don't work in SaaS.

What is the reason for raising costs? Why Not Try Something Else?

There are a variety of methods to make money when the market is restricted, and also increasing the price.

A rise in the number of acquisitions and an increase in conversion rate, and decreasing turnover are some possibilities.

But, each of these options require a considerable amount of effort in the amount of energy and time in order to make them work.

When you think about the time and money which will be spent on increasing the number of customers acquired and decreasing churn using methods like product-led development (PLG) or enhancing customer success efforts this can turn into extremely slow. illustrated here by medium and large-sized t-shirts

Table with headers Strategy, Acquisition, and Churn, then rows labeled PLG, Customer Success, and Pricing and Packaging. Each cell includes a t-shirt of Small, Medium, or Large.

Each of the massive and medium-sized t-shirts represents the money, time and effort. This process calls for the creation of PLG as well as to focus on improving the customer experience to increase customer purchase while decreasing customer turnover.

However, changes to pricing for products require little effort and are completed in a short time, like the small shirt at the upper.

Like Patrick McKenzie points out, it's as easy as replacing an unimportant number with one with a higher value.

A screenshot of a tweet quoting Patrick McKenzie.

At the end of the day, adjusting your pricing may be the most simple and most simple change you can make in order increase your revenue quickly.

Optimizing your SaaS Pricing Strategy to meet the New MRR and. Net Revenue Retention Needle of Growing

As you consider implementing different pricing methods, an additional aspect to consider is whether you'd like to increase your efficiency for the future MRR or net revenue retention, or both.

And then there's"the "growth mustache."

A graphic of a sideways bracket with Growth at the top and New MRR and NRR at the bottom.

The"grow" mustache is a bracket with an upside-down slant as my CFO of the past often referred to as. (I added added"mustache" in my "mustache" description, since, well, it looks like a mustache.)

This growth is fueled by an increase in monthly repeat revenue (MRR) and also the quantity of new clients entering market. It also includes the net retention rate (NRR) or the percentage of your existing customers' MRR and their ARR you are retaining or growing.

In the event that your NRR exceeds greater than 100 percent, it will result in an increase in profit. However, this also represents an increase in the value of your firm.

Generally, there's operational leverage with different pricing and packaging, but you also know the context in which your customers might be more likely to stay away or spend more being spent. Whatever you decide to do to change the prices of your goods could impact the ability of your business to bring in new customers, keep those existing ones, and increase both. Take this into account before you make any changes.

Try a New Pricing Model for SaaS that is Creative Combinations to increase revenues

If you've made the correct option, altering your pricing is an option, there are a lot of ways to evaluate. Per-feature pricing, pay-as-you go plans, as well as the cost-free model. flat-rate pricing as opposed to the usage-based pricing or per-user plans. Which one is best solution for your SaaS firm?

There are several options to consider for beginning:

  • SKUs:
  • Platform tiered plans
  • Product(s) tiered plans
  • Persona tiered plans
  • The add-ons can be found in one
  • Bundles of accessories
  • Entitlements:
  • Features
  • Utilization
  • Assistance
  • Pricing:
  • Price
  • Recurrence
  • Geography
  • Payment method
  • Discounts
  • Trials are absolutely free

Explore these options to find methods to increase the leverage of your company.

Some may need to determine an appropriate buyer price based on an individual who has an average revenue for each user (ARPU).

For other products which aren't listed It is essential to incorporate the most recent add-on which will allow for a higher price.

If you're not sure this may mean switching from a flat-rate price system or one built on users in favour of a dynamic, feature-based or usage-based pricing model.

Pay attention to the impact on the effectiveness of your SaaS Pricing Strategies

For instance, the number of customers your company serves decreases by tiny percentage when the price increases, while other customers are able to take on higher costs and make more money in the end, certain firms may benefit from the latest price point.

Keep track of changes that could impact your business strategy. A well-established SaaS company could have different priorities from what entrepreneurs are doing.

The formula for success is three letters

When we are thinking about pricing for packaging and prices, we combine our capacity to earn more profit with our capability to think of some new concept.

Take for example the innovation curve which is a curve which states that we create an item that's then taken up by more people before it is discarded. And it's easy to get stuck thinking that the only option for making a completely new revenue stream is to develop an entirely unique product.

It is possible to separate that thought and think about the ways that new revenue S curves might be developed by altering the program, the plan and package, along with accessories by simply providing your customers with new choices to shop at your store in addition to using your services.

When we look further at the use metric that is based upon a value metric which includes overages, these new strategies and also extensions could increase ARPU over time.

SaaS Pricing and Packaging Add-ons

Add-ons offer an easier path towards increasing the average amount of revenue per user for current and potential clients on the lowest budgets. They can have the choice of choosing what features they'll purchase from you, rather than having to pay a flat cost for a service that comes with a range of functions that they might not require or do not want.

In other words, is there an existing entitlement to offer as an added feature without adding any engineering tasks? Do you have any of these capabilities that could be cut up and rearranged to make an entirely new SKU without the need to create the entire product completely from scratch?

Add-ons can be found in a wide range of styles You can utilize an array of accessories or create a variety of bundles by using add-ons.

There's the chance of taking a danger since they can reduce the amount of your upgrade MRR when less users choose to upgrade to a more extensive package. However, your accessories could additionally play a significant role in the NRR.

In order to avoid that risk, make certain to determine your rate of upgrading and degrading before you begin making modifications to your add-on and packages offerings.

But, you may hold off on presenting new alternatives up until the point where those who sign up have signed up for your core product. After they've used your product and like it as well as after any subsequent purchases made by them would be considered upsells that could boost your revenue retained. You may present them with other features to improve their overall experience with the product.

It allows users to purchase the SaaS product for less cost, which can help you boost the MRR and ARPU, by offering additional sales.

Additionally, having a lower initial cost can also aid you in gaining an advantage when you go after market share, particularly when you are able to outdo your competition by a small amount.

New price level will help increase the Achieving Average Revenue per user (ARPU)

Could it be that the level of ARPU that you need is within the plans you already have set up?

For instance, if you're running a tiered pricing model, with $15, $150 and $300 options, then it's possible that the most effective pricing to earn more money is in the middle about $75.

Segmenting SaaS Plans can assist you to evaluate the advantages of your product and help you increase ARPU

Another alternative is to segregate the packaging according to individual customer demands.

For instance, WP Engine is a controlled WordPress platform, which manages a variety of diverse websites. However, they realized that they could focus solely on those customers that use WooCommerce that's the reason they created a special package specifically designed for this segment of customers.

A screenshot of the WP Engine pricing page for a segmented pricing plan for WooCommerce users.

They could focus on their customers' requirements specifically in this segment, which helped attract their attention and get additional signups. With time, WP Engine was able to offer more value those customers, which enhanced profits from WP Engine.

The payment frequency can boost the leverage

Pricing plans that are all year round offers customers the benefits of discount prices without paying for all of the year ahead. But it also offers an opportunity to reduce the risk of losing clients and to boost the total worth of the customer's life (or LTV).

For further benefits from this approach, in order to maximize the impact of this technique it is possible to offer higher discounts on annual subscriptions for newly signed subscribers, or those who are who are ready to move from monthly costs to annual.

The price duration can aid in the acceptance process for clients.

Tips If you're offering the Enterprise plan and your prices start becoming more expensive as you approach an annual payment, make sure that the total amount is less than $5000. Many procurement departments follow a policy that demands staff to approve each purchase over that therefore, if you're able to maintain prices below that allow customers to make purchases via credit card without having to deal with the hurdles within their own businesses. The policy can be changed and there's no sort of rule, however it's good to adhere to when attempting.

The Inflation Rate Isn't High enough You: Make Changes to Your Plan

In the event that you are considering changing your SaaS company's pricing policy the willingness of potential clients to pay for the service isn't the only thing to think about. The rate of inflation can change dramatically in a brief amount of time. Changes in the rate of inflation can differ in each nation or in each region.

An inflation graph of the annual percent change in consumer price index in Brazil, US, India, Germany, and China from 2008 to 2022.

Performance of the financials is influenced by headwinds affecting various geographies could mean the importance of localization when you are selling your Saas product internationally.

Reducing the requirement for purchase friction localization

The process of localization can be described as one of the many aspects that include the following, however not all of them are included:

  • Preferential payment terms for those countries you're selling your product to.
  • Cost is local.
  • The currency is localized.

Each one of these is supported by an additional benefit which doesn't only target your customers, but for the profit margins of your business too.

Pricing for localization is changed to 2x for B2C SaaS companies. It is important to offer an adequate explanation for the different pricing across different areas or countries. For instance, if the potential customer is capable of viewing different prices.

Local currency is much simpler to obtain approval for and also those on the market for purchasing it will be able to. If new clients can see the SaaS price in a way that they are used to, this will make purchasing it easier and avoids the hassle of converting before making an investment.

What Can You Help?

The information in the previous post was just presented by David Vogelpohl in a webinar presented by Cumul.io. You can view the webinar via YouTube.

David Vogelpohl Over the past 25 year, David Vogelpohl has led teams to develop high-end engines for development and technological solutions for the top firms like WP Engine, Genesis, AWS, Cloudflare, and many more. David is a practical expert and has practical solutions that will assist in boosting the performance of your company.

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