three pricing tiers and 3 examples (part 3)
(today I’ll show you some pricing tiers for indie (tech) companies as a follow-up to the tiers for voiceover service providers and voiceover artists)
Let’s have a look at how an indie art or tech company could productize their services using three products.
Pricing tiers for indie (tech) companies
As an example, I’ll use Masto.host which is run by Portuguese indie maker Hugo Gameiro. His service - Fully Managed Mastodon Hosting - was introduced to me by cyborg rights activist Aral Balkan.
If you don’t know Mastodon, Mastodon is like Twitter but decentralized: you run your own Mastodon server (instance) and each instance then talks to each other and can follow each other. Ideally, everyone runs one instance (one server) to avoid centralization but you’re free to join other people’s Mastodon servers (if they allow it).
I decided to let Hugo run my Mastodon instance so that I don’t have to deal with all the technical stuff. I’m very happy with his customer service, his attitude, kindness, and how responsive he is when sending an email to him. I wholeheartedly recommend using Hugo’s Masto.host.
Normally, I don’t feature individual indie makers just like that but after I had reached out to him (and to you as well), and he replied very thoughtfully and explained his situation, I decided to give him a shoutout. If you would like to get featured and get exposure to my readers, please send me an email.
Be aware that I will do Masto.host’s tiers differently than in the two parts before. Here we go…
Masto.host’s „3+1“ pricing tiers
First, go to masto.host/pricing/ and have a look at Hugo’s pricing tiers:
7 EUR (base product: 1x)
15 EUR (2.2x)
25 EUR
35 EUR (premium tier: 5x)
As you can see (notated in the brackets), he applied the pricing-tier formula. Hugo is a Copywriting Examples reader, so he’s aware of choosing 1x, 2.2x, and 5x as the ratios in between the packages. There’s nothing I need to adapt in terms of pricing, only…
He added a fourth product in between his premium and mid-tier product. That is, of course, perfectly ok. He can do whatever he wants. It’s his business. You can try out all the possible pricing models and see how far it brings you, or you can apply what Gumroad has tested for you with thousands of people and proved that it worked for the indie maker community.
Masto.host’s original 4 pricing tiers
I have many thoughts about it. Let’s go step by step.
Optimizing Masto.host’s pricing structure
First, I cut the 25 EUR product because…
a) I want to stick to the 3 tiers that I’ve taught
b) Having 3 items creates a nicer visual appeal due to the „Rule of Odds“ [1]
Then I sorted the products so that Hugo can lead with the premium product (35 EUR).
Now it looks like this:
Masto.host’s new 3 pricing tiers (new arrangement)
I changed some CSS classes and moved the HTML code around a bit using the browser’s live-editing tools.
I also centered the headline, and I centered the premium product and made its box wider: from x-column x-sm x-1-4
to x-column x-sm x-1-3
. If you don’t understand it, that’s ok. But imagine 1-3
or 1-4
would be written as 1/3
or 1/4
: it’s the fractional notation that you know from math, which means that a box’s width would take one-third (or one-fourth) of the total width. And yes, if you assign 1-1
to a product box, it would claim the maximum width available.
Copy optimization
Let’s tackle the copy…
When I read the copy, it sounded very technical although with Masto.host he wants to address non-technical people. So, that should be reflected in his sales text.
Here’s my suggestion as someone who is a happy Masto.host customer and (logically) among the target group. I’ll go top-to-bottom.
I changed…
Hosting Plans
choose the usage level
…to…
No-limit web space and full speed on each plan
Choose your Mastodon performance
The headline became benefit-driven (unlimited space, full speed/bandwidth) and also informative because of „on each plan“. I mentioned „on each plan“ to avoid redundancy in the bullet points that originally followed in each product box. There, Hugo previously said:
Unmetered Bandwidth
Unlimited Disk Space
I will explain further below why I left the bullet points intact for the premium product but removed them for the other two products.
Besides, the sub-headline „choose the usage level“ turned into a call-to-action that now sounds less technical and more customer-centric. The customer wants performance and speed. They don’t know how much they’ll use it. But Hugo cares about their usage which is reflected in the original copy. And that’s why I fixed it to „Choose your Mastodon performance“.
The premium product
I now changed the copy of the premium product (35 EUR).
The original copy:
€35/mo
Base
Shared CPU/RAM
Unmetered Bandwidth
Unlimited Disk Space
Regular/Medium Usage
Sidekiq 8 threads
Web 2x4 threads
Buy Now
IMAGE: rocket illustration
Regular to medium usage and used as the base for extra plans.
Optimized:
€35/mo
Skyrocket Fast
Great when you use Mastodon every day, post frequently to many followers and interact with lots of people
Unmetered Bandwidth
Unlimited Web Space
Optional: Speed Boost
Buy Now
IMAGE: rocket illustration
Our skyrockets are fast! You get two workers that can finish 4 jobs now and 8 background jobs later. Not sure what this means? You can access 2x4 web threads, 8 Sidekiq threads, shared CPU/RAM, and an optional speed boost upgrade (only available with the Skyrocket plan).
I felt disconnected when the premium offer was called „Base“. It confused me and (as you now know) a confused customer never buys.
Also, the terms Sidekiq 8 threads
and Web 2x4 threads
are very technical and too complicated for Hugo’s desired audience. I moved them to the lower explanation part of each product.
I also still don’t see any lights coming on when I read…
Regular to medium usage and used as the base for extra plans.
What is regular usage? What is medium usage? Sure, there is an explanation below that says:
Usage is the combination of concurrent active users and federation volume (relays and following/followers quantity for all users)
After reading it, I still have no tangible idea of what this means for me when using Mastodon on my server. So, I fixed the text for each product. And I also moved that new explanatory half-sentence up into the blue-colored box because that’s where the attention is—color provides (more) attention.
Now that the reader is having his eyes on the product box, we give him a more meaningful experience than a collection of bullets. And that is someone talking like he’s talking—in a conversational tone—with the words:
Great when you use Mastodon every day, post frequently to many followers and interact with lots of people
Now I know if spending 35 euros is the right choice for me.
The mid-tier product
Now, I changed the copy medium product (15 EUR).
The original copy:
€15/mo
Low
Shared CPU/RAM
Unmetered Bandwidth
Unlimited Disk Space
Light/Regular Usage
Sidekiq 4 threads
Web 1x4 threads
IMAGE: cheetah illustration
For a larger group of users and light to regular usage.
Optimized:
€15/mo
Cheetah fast (initially, I liked „Big-cat fast“ because you can have some subtle fun in your copy)
Best when you interact with a larger group of people fairly regularly
Buy Now
IMAGE: cheetah illustration
Cheetah can finish four web jobs straight and four background jobs later. Here is what it means. In nerd language: On the Cheetah plan, you get 1x4 web threads, 4 Sidekiq threads, and shared CPU/RAM.
The low-tier product
And finally, the copy for the low-tier product (7 EUR).
The original copy:
€7/mo
Light
Shared CPU/RAM
Unmetered Bandwidth
Unlimited Disk Space
Light Usage
Sidekiq 2 threads
Web 1x2 threads
Buy Now
IMAGE: rabbit/bunny illustration
For small group of users and light usage.
Optimized
€7/mo
Rabbit fast
Good when you post and interact on Mastodon every now and then
Buy Now
IMAGE: rabbit/bunny illustration
Rabbit can handle two web jobs right now and two background jobs later. What does that mean? In tech speak: You get 1x2 web threads, 2 Sidekiq threads, and shared CPU/RAM.
How and why I optimized the pricing tiers
Storytime…
Hugo told an interesting story when he used a rabbit, cheetah, car, and skyrocket. Ok, maybe not the car because I found that rather boring but the other three are great choices. Now I only continued their story by giving each product the name of their mascot and I added „fast“.
Every product of Masto.host is fast for the respective customer. Someone who uses Mastodon only occasionally will perceive his server as fast and responsive.
A customer who heavily interacts with many people and shares a lot will perceive the rabbit plan as slow and maybe sluggish. He will need a cheetah or skyrocket plan and then he will feel FAST.
Fast is relative, and that’s why all three products are fast in their own right and usage scenario. For example, I’m on the rabbit plan and I would consider my Masto.host server fast and responsive.
Three details that you probably didn’t notice…
But I believe they have an affirmative subconscious effect on the reader:
Good - Best - Great
Battery symbol
Size of the icons (rabbit, rocket, cheetah)
I’m starting the copy in each box with one keyword that anticipates value (good, best, great). You could argue that „best“ is better than „great“ but I like the feeling that „great“ conveys. It empowers people and makes me feel well… great.
I also accompanied the new starting copy with the battery icon. I actually fixed the icon if you look close enough.
Then I struggled because I wanted to give the skyrocket plan the „full battery“ icon. I knew that Hugo used „Font Awesome“ to deliver the icons, so I went on a hunt, found it here [2], and that you can copy the Unicode glyph:
Cool! If you click the icon, you get the HTML-ready Unicode for the icon
Then I added it directly in the Hugo’s existing HTML code:
<span class="x-graphic" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="x-icon x-graphic-icon x-graphic-primary" aria-hidden="true" data-x-icon-s=""></i> </span>
And it worked! Pretty proud I learned that.
The third detail you (probably) missed but has a positive impact on the reader’s buying decision is the size of the icons which was originally in misbalance. The rabbit was super big, cheetah too, and the skyrocket was soooooo small (not worthy of a premium product).
So, I grabbed the graphics, fixed their size, uploaded them and embedded them into the HTML code. Sure, the rabbit and cheetah are smaller now but they don’t dwarf the skyrocket anymore.
@Hugo: If you would like to get the new graphics, just reply to this email. I’ll send them to you :)
More conversational copy and a bit of color
Hugo treated the copy below the mascot (rabbit, cheetah, skyrocket) a bit like a „grandma“… too polite. I needed to fix that and create a compelling paragraph of copy that uses a conversational style and includes the technical details for those who happen to know what Web processes and Sidekiqs are.
So I said:
Rabbit can handle two web jobs right now and two background jobs later.
[…]
Cheetah can finish four web jobs straight and four background jobs later.
[…]
Our skyrockets are fast! You get two workers that can finish 4 jobs now and 8 background jobs later. […]
And in between the conversational text and the technical text („You get 1x2 web threads…“), I added an on-page link (#plans_info
) to where Hugo explains what a Sidekiq and a web thread is.
I also gave each product a straightforward nickname (which you should have noticed by now):
Rabbit
Cheetah
Skyrocket
The last puzzle piece was color. I picked #F0ED3A
(a green-yellow tone) to make it obvious where to click. And now the premium product box also just looks much nicer with a higher perceived value.
Takeaway
There’s a reason why salespeople and marketers exist. I’m calling it the „developer problem“ or (more demonic) „The Creator’s Curse“. If you create something, you get very attached to it. Of course, you do. It’s your baby. But it disqualifies you for getting „objective“ distance and market perspective. That’s what I observed with Masto.host too.
I hope to have contributed to Masto.host’s business success in a pertinent way. So, here is the final copy and design in all its glory:
Masto.host’s new 3 pricing tiers (final copy & design)
And if you read until here, here’s your reward: I did a little trick in the copy. Nothing too exciting, just a detail.
So…
Did you notice that the copy „Unmetered Bandwidth“ and „Unlimited Web Space“ is only in the premium box?
I did that to make the offer more valuable to the reader. Yes, you get unmetered bandwidth and unlimited web space in all three products but by mentioning them explicitly in the centered box, you make them a) appear bigger/higher (to visually stand even more) and b) you show there’s more inside the box. Again, this is not cheating, it’s only directing the reader’s attention and using their attention once they do pay to it.
I hope this was another valuable - money-making/money-saving - email for you.
Cheers,
Alex
Also: when you’re ready, here are three ways I can help you even further…
1: Write profitable sales texts in a day.
My heart is beating for the art+tech world (voiceover, indie companies) and business (copywriting, sales). I enjoy them all. And I know you love your craft but for the survival of your indie business only two numbers matter… replies in your inbox and money in the bank. I wanna help you with that. If there’s enough interest, I’ll be writing a guide for voiceover professionals and indie companies that make people reply to you and send you money. You can pre-order a free copy of „Fuol of Green: The foolproof guide for independent professionals to write profitable sales texts in a day… or less.“ But as a Copywriting Examples reader, I will send it to you for free. Just reply to this email and say „Gimme da green book will ya”. (yes, it’s going to be green because it means luck).
2: Optimize your landing page for higher conversion
I analyze and optimize your landing page sales text of up to 2.500 words. That’s about 10 pages of copy that I will dissect and rearrange for you. Not having appropriate sales copy on your landing page costs you missed signups. Also, the traffic you get converts fewer visitors into buying customers than you would like. Use the copy on your landing page and the visitors you have as a foundation and build upon it. A reader is a connection already made, he only needs a stronger bond to you (as a person) and to your product offering. All that with a fast delivery within 2–3 business days. Go upgrade your sales page copy.
3: Work with me face-to-face (well „Covid-face-to-face“).
If you’d like me to help you to grow your voiceover or indie (tech) business with better email marketing strategy, cleverererer sales page copy, and automated email campaigns that work… hit reply and say „Team up with Alex”. It would be great if you could tell me a little about your business and what you need help with and I’ll get you more details.
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Footnotes:
ZURB: Rule Of Odds
Font Awesome: Battery Full Icon