Reset
20 Comments

Price and Value: A Marketing Lesson for Life

Price, Value, Shopping

I have survived as an entrepreneur for 10 years not because I am inherently good at most aspects of running a business. I am a terrible salesperson, I get bored easily, I don’t like busy-work or higher math, and I have the classic ADD personality.

None of this is tremendously helpful in business, and in a lot of ways, it’s made things more difficult than they are for other, more balanced people.

Instead, I trace my success at survival to two key skills: first, I am a decent copywriter. Writing well really does help you do a lot of things. Second, I have a fairly good understanding of the twin concepts of price and value.

There are some other “life skills” that are also important — notably, persistence — but in terms of specific business skills, that’s pretty much all I’ve got. And for the most part, it works just fine, if a bit haphazard at times.

Today I thought I’d tell you about the second skill of understanding price and value, and I’ll do so with a real-life case study from the launch of my first AONC product. I’ll tell you what I did wrong, what worked well, and why I chose to market the product the way I did.

Ready?

First, all understanding about the whole subject of pricing comes from one critical principle:

Whenever we spend any amount of money, we undertake a complex, emotional analysis of price and value.

This process is hard to overstate, and few of us are immune. In fact, it is pretty difficult to buy much of anything without going through the process. It’s often subtle or even subconscious, but it’s definitely real. We often have expectations for how much something should cost, and when our expectations are unmet, we respond with emotion.

  • BAD Feeling (skepticism, uncertainty) – “Wow, that’s so expensive. Is it really worth it?”

  • GOOD Feeling (happiness, fulfillment) – “Wow, it’s on sale! I’m getting a great deal!”

These feelings are not always rational — have you ever known someone who will drive 30 miles to save a couple dollars? Or someone who uses coupons to buy products they don’t like?

Like I said, our expectations of value are not entirely rational, but they are very real nonetheless. From a $4 latte to an $8 movie to a $15,000 car, we evaluate purchases based on the expected emotional benefit in exchange for the money we give up to receive it.

When we go to Starbucks, we complain about the $4 latte… but then we go back the next day or next week. Apparently, the latte is worth the price even though we feel a little guilty about the $4.

There is a lot to this – the great book Influence covers the topic in far more detail.

The important thing to understand is that buying something is not simple. There’s a lot going on, and that’s why it’s critically important for businesses to get the pricing right.

If you price something too high, you alienate buyers. People will kick the tires, but most of them won’t take the car off the lot without more persuasive selling. That may seem fairly obvious, but the opposite is true as well.

If it’s priced too low, this is also a big mistake, because perceived value is directly related to price. People are skeptical of advice on the cheap. Free is good, and reasonable-to-expensive is good, but cheap is bad.

What if you heard about a consultant who works for $9 an hour, would you think, “Wow, what a deal?” I suspect that most people would think, “Wow, they must not be very good.”

Again, this may not reflect reality — perhaps there’s an awesome consultant out there who just likes pricing at the low-end — but true or not, it reflects how we perceive value. When you hear about a $300 an hour consultant, you might not be able to hire her, but you usually respect her. The perception is that a $300 an hour consultant is much better than a $9 an hour consultant.

For another example, say you walked into Best Buy and saw a $99 iPod killer on the shelf. Would you buy it right away?

I suspect not. You’d automatically think it couldn’t possibly be as good as a real iPod. You’d be very suspicious, because you expect iPods and even iPod knockoffs to be more expensive because they’re worth more.

Those are somewhat hypothetical examples, but you get the idea. Let’s take a look at a real-life, recent, highly-personal example.

Discount Airfare GuideThe UGDA Case Study

As many of you know, last week I released my first commercial product, the Unconventional Guide to Discount Airfare. This was definitely a labor of love and an emotional investment for me, because I’ve spent a lot of time working on the AONC site and building an audience over the past five months.

For anyone who believes that bloggers shouldn’t sell things, let me assure you that there are a lot easier ways to make money. But on the other hand, I passionately believe that artists should be allowed to make money. (I wrote that post in part to preempt complaints about creating an online shop in addition to my free essays and other content.)

Since I’ve been an online entrepreneur for ten years, I’m not normally indecisive with pricing. I can usually look at something and know fairly quickly how much it should cost. But since this was a new market and my first “branded” product, I was a little nervous.

Before the launch, I sent off some emails to people I know and trust to get their advice on pricing. Unfortunately, there was no consensus.

My internet marketing friends, who sell ebooks every day for $67, $79, or $97, took a look at the guide and said I should price at $49. “Look at what you are giving people,” said one.

“You’re telling them how to get access to airline lounges, the truth and lies about upgrades, how to get elite status without flying, and on and on. This is worth hundreds of dollars.”

Yes, that’s all true. But I felt uncomfortable pricing at the $49 point — I really wanted it to be more accessible. On the other hand, a few other respected experts said I should price lower than I expected.

$14.95, said one. $18 max, said another.

Yikes – I was equally uncomfortable with that idea. There is real value in the information I provide, and if I was selling it on the cheap, I’d rather just give it away. I’m not a mass-marketer; this is a niche product, and the average airfare costs $413 in North America. If someone can’t afford $25, I don’t mean to be insensitive, but they probably don’t do much flying.

Thus, I had to make my own decision, and as much as I dislike the middle ground, that’s what I went for – $24.97. I might sell more copies at a rock-bottom price point, and I might make more money selling at a higher price, but such is life with pricing decisions. You just have to make a decision and see how people respond.

So, how was the response?

Well, I won’t be retiring to Monaco anytime soon, nor can I rely on this as anything close to a full-time income… but I think I have the potential to build a nice little business over the next year.

There were a couple people who complained about the price, and a couple people who said after reading the guide that they gladly would have paid more. I can live with that kind of healthy tension.

Oh, by the way – social proof is another important part of the price and value correlation. We’ll have to cover this later, but in short, social proof is the public display of what other people think about your work.

Here are the early reviews, from real-life people:

I feel like I’ve stolen the book for that price. Well worth the investment. -Elliot Webb

And here’s another, from Naomi who writes from Ontario over at Ittybiz:

“While I admit it takes a shotgun to my head or a hefty handful of Xanax to get me on an airplane — I seriously considered taking a boat to Bali for my honeymoon — sometimes it has to be done. This book actually makes flying seem kind of fun. Very informative, value packed, no fluff. The guide to airport lounges alone was worth the cover price. If you don’t save money after reading this book you are quite frankly too stupid to be allowed on a plane without a chaperone.”

(You may have noticed that Naomi is quite a direct person. Don’t be offended. She’s a friend.)

I have a lot more feedback like that, and I’ll publish some of it on the product page over the next week or two. Elliot wrote his note to me at the same time someone else (who did not purchase) sent me a long rant telling me how expensive the guide was and how I was doing a disservice to the world, all marketing an evil, etc. I appreciated reading Elliot’s note right after hearing from the unhappy person.

Despite the fact that the launch went well, there’s always a few things you can learn from any success.

Here’s my list of what-to-do-better in the future:

  • I should have included a 2-page sample. Someone said that they would like to know more about what they are getting. You guys are correct, and I’ve fixed that. Here’s the sample. The sample is representative of the practical information included on each page of the guide.

  • The length could have been extended. This is the ultimate pricing paradox, and I’ve thought a lot about it. I’ve bought a few dozen ebooks over the years, and about half of them have cost me $49 or more. Almost all have provided good value, but almost all have been a bit too long for my taste.

There is inevitably a lot of good content but also a lot of fluff in the average ebook, and I wanted to avoid that with mine. I focused entirely on practical strategies and tactics, and left the fluff out. (There’s no blank pages for notes, for example, or long checklists that take up extra pages.)

However… I now realize that some people decide on value based on a price-per-page basis.

If you think about it, this is highly irrational. If someone drew you a treasure map, would you worry that it was only on one page? But as noted previously, most purchase decisions involve more emotion than rationality. Thus, even though I offer free lifetime updates and will be adding more to the guide in the future, I probably should have had a few extra pages in there. Point noted.

  • Lastly, I couldn’t do it this time, but in the future we’ll do a better job with segmentation. I got emails from the U.K. and Australia asking for localized versions. I got emails asking for a higher-priced, higher-end version for business travelers most interested in flying First Class. I got emails from India and elsewhere asking for a bare-bones (but cheaper) version.

We’re working on these ideas. I have to find the right balance there (i.e., I don’t want 10 different guides for the same subject), but it’s on my mind. For now, I have a makeshift solution for those international readers who are interested. If you’re one of them, write me and I’ll give you the details.

For the next guide, I’ll take each of these lessons to heart and see how to make it even better. I’m working on it already, but it won’t be coming out for a while. Like the first one, it’s better to do it right than to do it quickly.

***

Getting Back to Basics

There’s no way to eliminate the emotional process of buying something, but I recommend taking the process into the open. Asking serious value questions – not “What color is it?” or “How many pages is it?” but “How will this improve my life?” helps reduce the tension and ensure better choices. Another good question is, “Do I value this item (or service) more than I value the x dollars it will cost me?”

When I started thinking more about this, I started making different life choices. I made my decision to visit 100 countries by thinking about price and value. I entered and completed a Master’s Degree program by thinking about price and value… but then I turned down a Ph.D. program by thinking about the same thing. It wasn’t the right time for me.

Your mileage, as they say, will vary. You might not do the same things or make the same choices – in fact, I hope you’ll do whatever it is you want to – but when you think carefully about price and value when buying (or selling), you’ll usually make wiser decisions.

Good luck out there.

###

Stumble-this

Did you enjoy this article? Please pass it on to others at StumbleUpon, or share your own thoughts in the comments section.

Image by Armel

Subscribe now and you’ll get the best posts of all time.

20 Comments

  • Daniel Edlen says:

    Well put and I really appreciate that you’ve included your own story. Your straightforward style and the fact that you’re discussing your own experience almost as it happens is wonderful.

    I’ve struggled with this decision as well, trying to make my artwork accessible to anybody passionate about music, but also pricing it to encourage people to value it more. Now that I’m donating work to charities, I want it to bring in more funds at silent auctions too. The regional question is an issue too, as art values vary greatly in different parts of the US and the world.

    So, right now I’m trying to follow Godin and add the value with exceeding service expectations and extras, leaving the price steady. I’m still getting people saying that they’d pay more, but I don’t want to alienate those who can’t!

    I awarded you the Pico y Arte award and I hope you’ll consider passing it along if you have the opportunity:

    http://vinylart.blogspot.com/2008/08/lo-maximo.html

    Peace and thanks.

  • Jess says:

    Interesting – it sounds like you’ve gotten a wide range of responses. I haven’t purchased the guide – yet – but will be doing so in the next couple of weeks. In the mean time I will definitely check out the sample. It sounds like a really fascinating and useful guide, at least for me; I’m planning on traveling extensively in the next year.

    Do you have any travel or budget advice for someone studying abroad?

  • Chris says:

    @ Daniel,

    Thanks for the award (and great comments)!

    @ Jess,

    Travel advice for studying abroad – sure, just write me and let me know more info, like where you are going and when. Good luck with the travels!

  • Elliot Webb says:

    For me it all boiled down to values, I bought the eBook on the first day, to be honest I probably would have paid $50 at the time, and that’s before I even read it, as I’ve said before if at least one tip in this book gets me to see my family on more of a regular basis, then I can’t really put a value on that, And as for the length of the book, I didn’t even worry about it, in fact I was glad it was only 30 pages long!, I too swear I have ADD :), and I cannot stand eBooks that are longer than the script of Lord Of The Rings, because to be honest, you will only remember about 1/4 of that anyway! The rest is just jumble to make it weightier to hold open a big wooden door after your done with it. Also you get free updates too, so yes its 30 pages now, but with updates you may well end up with a novel. 🙂

    I’ve read the entire book now and I think its great, it gave me the information that I needed to know, and like Chris said, if you never really intend to fly, don’t bother buying it. But if you do, then what is wrong with spending $25 for a informative travel report. Next time you’re at Heathrow, just don’t buy a coffee and muffin! There’s your $25 right there.

  • Alex R. says:

    The price per page was initially a stopping point for me, but now I’m very interested having read the 2 page summary. I was thinking, 29 pages…when you figure all the headings, some graphs, some bulleted lists and some like copyright, table of contents… the actual content was only going to be only such and such pages…

    I think another thing you could offer in addition to the free upgrades is a discount on future products (something like 60% of your marketing should go to your existing customer base) So for your next e-book you could offer like a 10% discount or whatever you decide to those who purchased one e-book at retail.

  • Chris says:

    @ Alex,

    Good comments, thanks. Yes, we are doing exactly that (the future customer discount). It is an unadvertised benefit, along with a couple of others. 🙂

  • Chris Nakafevo says:

    If you tell somebody that he can save like 100-150 bucks, with the book, off that let’s say New York – Paris, that doesn’t make him buy it, because the trip would be like 1000 and over, so saving just 100 or 150 dollars doesn’t seem a lot and not price worthy to pay, gasp, 24, 97. Even if you flight once per year you still profit over 100 dollars, imagine that for 5 or 10 flights, you could save a lot of money and visit more places.

    I love the pricing paradox, to be honest, if the book really provides all that information you could price it at around 100$ and more, but you’re a great guy and you put a normal regular price so you’ve got my respect for that.

    I will buy the book hopefully very soon, my ‘buying factor’ is the future updates as I know Chris will keep his promises to keep the book up-to-date.

    p.s.
    If there’s a stopping point for me that’s also the lenght. Could’ve been longer with more stories, c’mon Chris, we know you can write. In “Made to stick” I loved the quick-reference, and in most Seth Godin’s book there are also the ‘quick-summary’ at the end so you could’ve done that so you can have a quick reference for your future travels.

    p.s.2
    Still waiting for the Entrepreneurial book of yours.

  • Heather says:

    Yours is the first ebook I’ve ever thought about buying… I haven’t yet because I’m swamped with other things to think about – and also, I balked about paying for a PDF, especially sight unseen. So the sample is a really good idea. I work in print educational publishing, where, as my boss likes to say, we sell paper with stuff on it – and we certainly do price by page count, and work to make the pages look full yet not stuffed for the “flip test”. (For us, most online stuff has to be free, because it’s expected.) So you may also be getting a print vs. PDF view of value? I don’t mind paying money for a small book if it will be value – that’s what’s hard to judge. So if I do buy your ebook, I trust it won’t be filled with blank pages for notes! That seriously annoys me.

    You probably know that you are also selling a dream – “yes, I *will* go and fly around the world for cheap, just like Chris!” Even if you don’t, it feels good to read about it.

  • Eric says:

    I’m glad you chose to price it reasonably. I find it somewhat scammy that ebook people price their products at $75 and above, if I can go to the bookstore and get a real bound hardback about the same thing for a third as much, why should I pay $75 for something generally written by an amateur (think SEO ebooks, affiliate stuff etc)?

    While I’m not a traveler now, if I become one in the future I plan on purchasing your book.

  • Rob says:

    Actually, the price point deterred me at first as well, before I picked up the UGDA. I don’t know if I’m stuck in old school thinking, or I’m the in-between generation, but for me, spending $25 bucks on an “ebook” which isn’t a tangible thing you can hold in your hands still can make me balk. Same reason I still prefer to pick up CDs instead of playing with itunes. Though I have been giving emusic a spin, so…

    But given the potential value – I live overseas now, my wife really enjoys travel, and I’ve got lots of expat friends living overseas that the guide can help me point in the right direction – it seemed worth giving a shot, especially as I enjoy the blog. It seems like you’re developing, and rightly so, the long tail/”1000 true fans” model.

    Reflecting further, I think what may have pushed it over the top into the ‘buy’ category was the promise of “free updates for life.” So I know that if my backup CDs get lost or scratched, or my computer dies [again] I can still get a hold of a copy without too much difficulty the next go around.

  • Danny Garant says:

    I would have bought your book if I planned to go on plane. I like your today’s post cause I realised that I’m pretty emotional about buying books. So, thank you.

    And knowing the quality of your writings, I’ll look forward for your upcoming products.

  • xero says:

    Well put. I thought the price was perfect. It’s honestly worth more, but I wouldn’t have bought it at $49, at least not until I’d heard others review it.

  • Charles Widdicombe says:

    Hi Chris

    Looks like you have thought hard about this difficult area of judgement.

    One idea that I like (although I don’t know how this would work in practice and haven’t tried it yet) is to let the market decide how much. i.e. get them to put the price in once they have read the book and decided how much value it added.

    This may be a bit difficult technically to get the horse back in once it’s bolted but could put to rest any uncertainty as to what price to set the book at.

    The risk is that people are too tight with the price to value concept and you end up less than if you fixed the price.

    But my hunch is that there will be a small minority that will see significantly more value and make up the difference.

    PS I will probably end up buying, but haven’t made the leap yet!

  • Stephen Hopson says:

    Chris:

    I’m late in responding to this article but have been meaning to because I really enjoyed learning of your experiences in marketing your first electronic product. I have not yet done so myself but your guideline here was very helpful. I bookmarked it for later reference.

    If there’s one suggestion I have it would be to have your the titles of your articles in the newsletter hyperlinked so that people can click on it immediately to read the post on your blog (for purposes of the anticipation of leaving a comment). I did notice you had a hyperlink to the article but it was all the way to the bottom.

    How about having hyperlinks at the top of the newsletter as well as the bottom? Food for thought.

  • bitcoins currency exchange says:

    Magnificent goods from you, man. I have be mindful your stuff prior to and you are simply too great.
    I really like what you’ve received here, really like what you are stating and
    the best way by which you are saying it. You are making it entertaining and you still take care of
    to stay it sensible. I can not wait to read far more from you.

    This is really a wonderful website.

  • granny says:

    When my hubby and I chose to homeschool, we met with alot of these people. The most amazing thing is that NONE of them had any knowledge of what homeschooling was. Eight years later, we still run into opposition, but have learned that a smile and a nod is usually the easiest way to deal with most of them.

  • خرید سیم کارت رایتل says:

    if I planned to go on plane I would have bought your book. I like your today’s post cause I realised that I’m pretty emotional about buying books. So, thank you.

  • kazem says:

    دانلود آهنگ سنتی و آمار بالای آن، با توجه به الفت و نزدیکی جامعه ما با شعر و موسیقی، امر غریبی نیست. موسیقی سنتی ایرانی که آن را با اسامی از قبیل موزیک کلاسیک ایرانی، موسیقی اصیل و نیز موسیقی دستگاهی ایرانی هم می‌شناسیم، قدمتی دیرینه دارد.
    https://muziran.ir/سنتی/

  • talley chan says:

    Thanks for the useful information shared. Hope the latest information will be mentioned 2 player games

Your comments are welcome! Please be nice and use your real name.

If you have a website, include it in the website field (not in the text of the comment).

Want to see your photo in the comments? Visit Gravatar.com to get one.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *