

Ask HN: How to test price variations?  - callmeed

We have a product with a setup fee and a monthly fee (currently $399 + $20/mo).<p>I'd like to do some testing of variations on the setup price. What's the best way to do this? It seems unwise to simply randomly show different prices A/B style.<p>- Should we try a higher price for a time period, then a lower price for a time period? Or vice-versa?<p>- What's a good time period to test? 2 weeks? 1 month? 2 months?<p>- Other ideas for testing price changes?
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colin8chSE
I recommend trying a lower price first, then gradually increase.

1) Your early adopters/ customers will feel like they got a deal. (if you drop
the price later they'll feel ripped off) 2) You will get a "baseline" for
adoption at a price point, and you can use that for comparison as you increase
your price. If your sales decrease significantly, you've hit a value
perception/ pricing problem.

We've seen our Vendors successfully test their pricing models this way at
Simplified Ecommerce (I'm the Founder)- they can start billing from day one
without any coding and easily revise their pricing models in realtime.

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tucaz
From what I've seen, unfortunately the best approach is to use your gut
feeling and try different prices over different time :(

I can't confirm this technique (is it?) myself, but I'm in process of
publishing something for money and will have to figure this out soon enough
too.

Good luck

