Questions · Published
How should I price B2B software for my first customers?
TL;DR
Price on the value to the customer, with your costs as the floor, and set it higher than feels comfortable. Charge for the thing that matches how they get value, like seats, usage or a flat fee per business. Keep it to one or two plans, check it covers what each customer costs you to serve, and treat it as a test.
Your first price is a guess, and that's fine. What matters is that it's a sensible guess you can test, and that you ask early customers to pay it. Here's how to make it a good one.
Start from the value
Work out what the problem costs your customer today, in money, time or risk. If missed shifts cost an agency £2,000 a month in lost fees, software that fixes most of that is worth a few hundred pounds a month to them, whatever it costs you to run. Your costs set the floor. The value to the customer sets the ceiling, and that's where to aim.
It's common to price too low, because a low price feels easier to say out loud. But a low price can make a business product look less serious, and it leaves you with less to spend on finding and serving customers. If nobody pushes back on your price, it's probably too low.
Choose what to charge for
The thing you charge for should rise with the value the customer gets:
- Per seat: when each extra user gets value, like a tool the whole team uses every day. Slack charges per active user, and only for people who actually use it, which makes it easy for a team to start small and grow.
- By usage: when value tracks volume, like messages sent, shifts filled or documents processed.
- A flat fee per business or site: when value doesn't depend much on how many people use it.
- A mix: a monthly fee plus usage, which is common for AI products.
Pick the one that feels fair to the customer. If it feels like a penalty for using the product more, it'll hold them back.
Keep the plans simple
One or two plans is plenty at the start. A common shape is a standard plan for most customers and a bigger one for larger businesses with more sites or users. You can add more once you know which features matter to whom.
Think about who pays
In a business, the person with the problem often isn't the one with the budget. A team might use your software every day while a finance director or owner signs off the spend. Your price and your promise have to make sense to both.
Check it covers the cost to serve
Add up what each customer costs you: hosting, payment fees, the time you spend setting them up and supporting them, and any AI your product uses. AI features cost money every time someone uses them, and a busy customer can cost far more than a quiet one, so make sure your price, or a usage element in it, covers heavy users. There's more on this in how to price an AI app.
Early-customer discounts, done fairly
It's reasonable to give your first customers a better deal for taking a chance on you. Make it a fair trade: a lower price in return for feedback and a case study, with an end date, so you're not stuck with it for ever.
Expect to change it
Treat your first price as a test, and change it as you learn. That's easier if your pricing isn't hard-coded into your app. Salable, which we build, handles plans, payments and which features each customer can use, so you can change prices and packages without rebuilding anything. For your first few customers, though, a payment link or an invoice is enough.