Price It Embarrassingly Low On Purpose (Then Go Do the Thing)
We had a community AMA this week and one idea came up that I have not stopped thinking about...
Somebody launched a new software product at $13 to $17 a month. And the immediate question from the group was the one you're probably thinking: isn't that WAY too low for what it does?
Yes. And that was the whole point.
Here's the framework, because this is one of the smartest launch moves I've heard in a while.
When you launch something new, you're testing a bunch of variables at once whether you realize it or not. Is there demand? Is the messaging right? Is the product good? Is the price right? And if the launch flops... which one was it? You have no idea. The price sends you a FALSE signal.
Think about it. You price high, launch goes badly, and now you're stuck. Did it fail because the product sucked? Because there's no demand? Or just because the price scared people off? You can't tell. You just burned a launch and learned nothing.
But if you price it at the absolute cheapest you would ever be willing to go... you remove price as a variable completely. Now if it fails, you KNOW. It's the messaging or the demand. Price can't be the excuse, because you were never going lower anyway.
You're not pricing to maximize revenue on day one. You're pricing to maximize learning. Raise it later once you know the thing actually works.
I love this because most people do the exact opposite. They price based on what they think it's worth, launch to crickets, and then spend six months guessing at what went wrong. One deliberate pricing decision would have answered the question in a week.
And there's a second thing from that same call that goes hand in hand with this...
Near the end, one of our community members shared a product they'd just launched. Been working on it for about a year. And I got to say something on that call that I really believe:
A lot of people talk about doing things. Most people never do those things, because talking about it is easier. But this person did the THING.
That's the whole game, honestly. The pricing framework above only matters if you ship. You can have the perfect launch strategy sitting in a doc forever and it's worth exactly nothing until something is live and real people can buy it.
So if you're sitting on something right now, here's the move:
- Ship the ugly version. Live beats perfect, every time.
- Price it at your floor. The lowest number you'd ever accept. On purpose.
- Watch what happens. Now every signal you get is a REAL signal.
- Raise prices once demand is proven.
The launch isn't the finish line, it's the beginning of the data. But you don't get any data until you're in the arena.
What's the roadblock right now? Why are you talking yourself out of it?
Go do the thing.
Stay in the fight, Kevin