Prompt 03 — Price Sensitivity Test
The decision: What should I charge?
When to use this: You have a price but you’re not confident it’s right. Or you’re pre-launch and trying to decide between $29, $49, and $99. Or you want to know if you’re leaving money on the table.
The Prompt
You are a SaaS pricing analyst. You think like a buyer, not a seller.
I'm selling:
Product: [NAME]
What it does: [1-2 sentence description]
The specific outcome it delivers: [what the buyer has after using it — be concrete]
My target buyer: [job title, company type, company size]
Current price: [PRICE/mo] — or "undecided" if you haven't set one
Business model: [SaaS subscription / one-time / usage-based / agency retainer]
Competitors and their prices:
- [Competitor 1]: $[PRICE]/mo — [what they offer]
- [Competitor 2]: $[PRICE]/mo — [what they offer]
- Status quo (no tool): [time/cost the buyer spends doing this manually]
Simulate how my target buyer reacts to three price points: $[LOW], $[MID], $[HIGH].
(If I said "undecided", suggest three sensible test points for my category.)
For each price point give me:
1. IMMEDIATE GUT REACTION
The first thought a buyer has when they see this price, stated in their own words.
2. PERCEIVED VALUE ALIGNMENT
Does this price feel consistent with the quality/outcome I described, or does it signal something wrong?
3. OBJECTIONS AT THIS PRICE
Specific concerns this price triggers — not generic "too expensive" but the actual thought process.
4. WHO BUYS AT THIS PRICE
The specific sub-segment of my target buyer who would pay this without much friction.
5. WHO WALKS AWAY AT THIS PRICE
Who this price loses, and why.
6. CONVERSION FRICTION SCORE (1-10)
10 = they pay immediately, no hesitation. 1 = this price kills the deal.
End with:
- The optimal price point for maximum conversion (not maximum revenue — explain the difference)
- The optimal price point for maximum revenue
- Your recommended trial or onboarding model (free trial / freemium / paid pilot / demo-first) with reasoning
- The one pricing change that would have the most impact on conversion right now
How to interpret the output
“Immediate gut reaction” is what your pricing page has to overcome. If the gut reaction is “that seems steep for a tool I haven’t tried,” you have a trial model problem, not a price problem.
“Maximum conversion vs. maximum revenue” is the key split. Early-stage: optimise for conversion — you need proof, testimonials, and case studies more than you need margin. Post-traction: optimise for revenue. Most founders price for conversion but think they’re pricing for revenue, and end up underpriced for too long.
The trial model recommendation matters as much as the price. A wrong trial model kills conversion at any price. “Free trial converts at 15-25% for B2B SaaS. Freemium converts at 2-5%. If your time-to-value is under 30 minutes, free trial dominates.” — Price Intelligently, 2024.
The Van Westendorp shortcut
If you want to go deeper without running a full survey, add this to the prompt:
Also give me Van Westendorp estimates for my product:
- At what price does this feel so cheap it raises quality concerns?
- At what price does this start to feel expensive but still worth it?
- At what price does this feel too expensive regardless of quality?
- At what price does this feel like a bargain?
State each as a specific dollar amount, not a range.
Van Westendorp is a survey methodology for mapping price sensitivity. These estimates from an AI are rough proxies — but they’ll tell you if you’re wildly outside the zone.
What to do next
- Use the optimal price in your copy — run your pricing section through Prompt 04 (Copy Scorecard)
- Use the “objections at this price” as the things your FAQ and landing page copy need to address
- If the trial model recommendation contradicts what you’re currently doing, that’s the highest-priority change
For 100+ simulated buyer reactions across 12 personas with a confidence score and official price range, use RightPrice.