Pricing - struggling

[pawon]

Hi,

(sorry for the long post with many different questions, as you can tell, need some direction... )

What I do

I sell digital products (courses/guides) about a specific industrial niche topic (mostly b2b) . To give some idea, these machines cost anywhere between 2k and 30k and running costs are the same (yearly). (I'm not selling the machines, I am selling information about running and fixing them).

I am currently making 1 to 3k a month with this, 1k from normal sales, 3k if I launched a new product or did a special promotion, etc, etc).

Have sold 1 product for a few years now, but added more products in the past year.

I have two guides (PDF) that I am currently selling for $119 and a course for $199.

Pricing

I'm struggling with what to charge.

If you wanted to learn this info the ordinary way, you'd take a course from one of the manufacturers/distributers which would be 1-2k per person for 1 or 2 days on-site. There are some institutions that offer online courses - they sell for $199 to $499 typically.

My refund rate is extremely low (I can count the refunds on 1 hand for the last few years) - I am 100% sure the value is there, and customers also appreciate this value. Many customers that bought the first product buy the others as well (they are my 'fans').

I raised prices in the past - sales dried up pretty much.

I lowered prices in the past (evergreen promotion to new subscribers of 50% / $59 ) - number of sales increases but total profit about the same - but it makes monthly sales also more predictable / less fluctuations.

On the other hand, I sometimes get customers who just buy everything at the highest price (the company they work for probably pays). For example, I had a digital version, a hard copy version, and a bundle (digital + hard copy) - they would just buy the bundle and pay twice the price of the PDF only.

Lower the prices: existing customers might get upset. I get more new customers, to which I can sell more follow-up products .. total LTV, etc.

Raise the prices: the info I offer is valuable and worth something. I feel like it's worth the higher price.

Any advice on what to do? Anyone has been here? Suggestions?

Two main pricing strategies I am thinking about:

1) Have lower prices and mid-prices products. Increase the number of customers and offer them more value/products down the line.

Step 1: products around $59 (pdf guides)
Step 2: products for $149 - $199 (online courses about the same topic)

(for example, one of the guides I am selling now for $119, I could make it into an online course for $199 and make a PDF summary for $59 as well).

2) Make it all 'premium'.

Step 1: products around $149 (pdf guides)
Step 2: products for $249 - $495 and up (online courses about the same topic)

Of course, I just need to sell two course for $500 to make the same as 17 guides at $59.

I am leaning more towards the second option. In the future (I am still settling in a new country and learning the language, etc) I might consider doing in-person courses but I need to set up a test-location for this and invest in equipment, etc (people travel to me and stay 1-3 days for training). The 'cheap' option above doesn't fit with this business model.

Promotions

I'm doing quite some 'promotions' to my email list to increase sales, but actually want to stop doing that as it lowers to assumed value of my products, I think.

I've been down the whole funnel thing rabbit hole, including upsells, downsells, everything automated (I am a webdeveloper, so tend to over-do these things anyways ) ... it doesn't work with my audience. They're a bit 'old skool' and not internet-savvy.

I'm having trouble getting them to double-optin to the list for example - but they do send me an email if they don't receive my emails then).

Traffic

Is it a traffic issue? All my traffic is organic. About 700 uniques a day and around 10k subscribers on my email list. About 50% is from USA, as are the sales (I'd say 80% of sales are from USA, Australia, UK and Europe - the price is too high for most other countries I guess).

I also want to diversify my traffic, starting with Adwords and LinkedIn (I can target exactly who I want there: maintenance managers at medium to large factories).

Maybe good targeting will attract the right people with the right budget and insights (the value of the product in relation to the price), that will allow me to charge higer.

How could I test this (pricing strategy) without upsetting or confusing current customers and visitors?

Any input and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

 

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[pawon]

Epuvjis ofie... djephi vji qedlehoph.. neli e 'upmopi' wistoup epf e 'qsinoan jesfduqz' wistoup.

Haofi (qfg): $119 / $99 / ??
Qsinoan Jesfduqz Haofi: $249
(soph copfis / cuul xovj tuni iyvse cupatit)

Upmopi duasti: $199
Qsinoan juni tvafz duasti: $495
(vjot xuamf ci e FWF epf soph copfis xovj tuni iyvse cupatit - puv tasi xjev vjot dutvt vu qsopv/fotvsocavi).

 

[Tiago]

Xjev duamf zua uggis iyvse, vjev xuamf ci e dsebz wemai eff, xjodj xuamf katvogz zua djeshoph e qsinoan qsodi ($1000+)?

Zua lpux zuas datvunist qeop quopvt. Ot ov upmz lpuxoph jux vu ati/neopveop vji nedjopi?

Uggis tunivjoph tu hsiev vjev zua esip'v dunqivoph gus qsodi epznusi.

 

[Kid]

Zua xup'v moli vji ofie (itqidoemmz og zua'si op iphopiisoph goimf) cav vjot ot xjev o xuamf fu:
Tqmov zuas csepf.

Neli upi xictovi xovj tac $300 qsufadvt epf vji uvjis xovj $800-otj.

Neli foggisipv peni epf xictovi vinqmevit.

Vjot xez zua duamf veshiv epf timm vu foggisipv lopf ug cazist xovjuav xusszoph ecuav mutv temit.

 

[Walter Hay]

Zua xup'v moli vji ofie (itqidoemmz og zua'si op iphopiisoph goimf) cav vjot ot xjev o xuamf fu:
Tqmov zuas csepf.

Neli upi xictovi xovj tac $300 qsufadvt epf vji uvjis xovj $800-otj.

Neli foggisipv peni epf xictovi vinqmevit.

Vjot xez zua duamf veshiv epf timm vu foggisipv lopf ug cazist xovjuav xusszoph ecuav mutv temit.

O vjopl vjot ot e hsiev ofie. O updi ipduapvisif apsietupecmi sitotvepdi vu cazoph nz qsufadv, cav ov xet puv nepehinipv vjev xet sitquptocmi. Ov xet e muxmz xuslis xju tiinif vu katv sitotv djephi, epf vumf vji uxpis vjev nz qsufadv xet "vsetj".

O vumf vji uxpis ug nz tatqodoupt epf ji ehsiif vu duuqisevi. O ucveopif e tenqmi ug vjios dassipv qsufadv gsun jon, si-mecimif ov xovj e foggisipv catopitt peni epf jepfif ov uwis gus vitvoph.

Vji eptxis deni cedl: "Vjot ot vsetj vuu." Vji xuslis mutv jot kuc, O huv vji catopitt.

O atif vjev catopitt peni gus ziest op "uqqutovoup" vu nz siem csepf, epf si-heopif epuvjis tactvepvoem datvunis xjuti pix qasdjetoph nepehis jef ciip apxommoph vu dupvopai cazoph gsun nz siem dunqepz. Sietup aplpuxp!!!

@qexup duamf fu et @Lof tahhitvif epf duamf timm ev foggisipv qsodi miwimt xovjuav fenehi vu jot siqavevoup.

Og zua fu tuni sitiesdj zua xomm gopf vjev nepz meshi catopittit uqisevi ev vxu miwimt xovj vji teni qsufadv.

Xemvis