Hey ,

Recently, I changed how I priced my digital products (i.e. courses and workshops).

It's been on my mind for over a year, and so yesterday I changed my pricing to be more aligned with myself and how I want to live, represent myself, and potentially be a model for others.

My pricing decision was actually inspired by an article I read, title Pricing Manifesto. This article was written by the makers of the popular calendaring app called Sunsama. It's an incredible read. Oddly, I don't even use Sunsama, since I have a calendaring tool that I enjoy. However, their pricing manifesto has been stuck in my mind since first coming across it.

Among several notes inside the pricing manifesto, this one section stood out to me the most and is what I'd like to share with you today:

No psychological trickery

Sunsama is priced in whole numbers (USD). We know that more people would convert to a paid plan if we'd price the product at $19.99 instead of $20.00 but that's just deceitful psychological trickery. Just like our core product, we're interested in building a product that fights back against our psychological weaknesses instead of taking advantage of them.

While this article is referring to a SaaS model (software as a service), I could feel them speaking language that connected to my deeper values. I've always been focused on helping others build an intentional business and online presence. One that allows them to design and then lead a life they want for themselves.

When seeing someone lead by their values, it makes it more accessible for you to lead by yours.

For me, that meant to break free from following the psychological trickery I had learned from several courses on how to price my products. And, instead go with what I felt was:

• simpler for the user,
• right and aligned with my own values,
• and consistent with what & how I teach others.

What did that mean for my products?

Well, it meant that I needed to make a change in how I listed my products

• from what I learned to do: price products in the 9s and 7s,
• to what's more aligned with my values: whole numbers that end in 0s.

This meant that instead of my products showing up as $49 or $97, they now appear as $50 or $100. I have already been doing this for my services (e.g. coaching, web design, brand development, etc.), so I can't really explain why I didn't do the same for my digital products (besides maybe following what I was told to do).

That being said, this exact pricing model might not make sense for you to do.

Instead…

My lesson this week is that representation matters. When we see ourselves in others: we find our people, our community; we feel supported; and we feel validated.

If you feel that you can see yourself in someone you look up to, it means you can also be that role model for someone else.

(this is not a sponsored newsletter, just in case you were curious)

Sunsama - The daily planner for busy professionals

Read Pricing Manifesto

Enjoy,

Matt

Your response is anonymous.