How to create a roadmap for Value Creation through Pricing Research

What good pricing research looks like

At Pricing Strategy Partners, we believe pricing research should give greater insight than price alone. When designed well the output becomes a roadmap for Value Creation through Pricing Research. Good pricing research can help understand not only willingness to pay, but also give insight into market / buyer preferences, product feature prioritisation and the competitive landscape.

Pricing Research elements and their Value Creation benefit

The table below gives an overview of the elements a comprehensive pricing research survey can contain, and the Value Creation benefit they can bring. A Pricing Research exercise can take months and can be a significant investment; therefore any research should be comprehensive and provide joined up guidance to multiple teams such as marketing, product development / management, sales and board members.

Pricing Research Survey Section	Typical Questions	Value Creation benefit
Respondent Demographics	Respondent job title, seniority and buying responsibility. Organisation size & turnover.	The ability to segment the results of the following sections by different buyer attributes.
Competitive Insight	Awareness & usage of own and competitor products. Satisfaction with current products. Areas of dissatisfaction with competitor products.	Market share insight. Competitor product satisfaction, areas of competitive advantage, marketing & product opportunities.
Core Product Willingness To Pay	Understanding the willingness to pay of the core product using van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter. Understanding the prices that respondents consider "good value, getting expensive, too expensive and too cheap".	Understanding where pure price value creation opportunities lie. Are respondents willing to pay more than current list price? What discounting could be offered to drive demand? What should the floor price be?
​Feature Prioritisation	MaxDiff testing and ranking of features, which often contains a mix of current advanced features, competitor features and product roadmap features.	Monetisation opportunities for individual attributes/features as opposed to selling as a bundle. Providing a clear product roadmap to Product Development and marketing plans.
Feature Good Value Price	Respondent's "Good Value" price for their top ranked features.	As above.
Bundle Testing	Conjoint Analysis of multiple offerings, either as bundles or next best offering.	Gives clear sales guidance on the next best sell. Provides marketing and product management guidance for future bundles and offers.
Qualitative Questions	Typically up to 5 qualitative questions used to provide further insight into wider Go-To Market and Product Development strategies.	Provides greater insight into wider monetisation opportunities.

A roadmap for Value Creation through Pricing Research

Bringing all of the elements together provides a roadmap for Value Creation through Pricing Research; it will give strategic insight in a number of areas such as marketing campaigns to run, pricing / revenue opportunities, product roadmap and much, much more.

The Bottom Line

Pricing Research clearly provides a roadmap for value creation opportunities. Wider than that, it will bring together disparate teams under a unifying strategy of Value Creation.