3 Tips On Setting Your Price

It was interesting to see certain people react to the recent launch price of Fluent Support in their Facebook group. And I think it brings up some interesting lessons on pricing.

As is typical from this team, when they first launch a new product, they usually do so with a 3-tiered lifetime license approach. So, right now, it is $99 for 1 site, $299 for 5 sites, and $599 for 50 sites. All lifetime licenses.

Now, I think that is an absolute steal. But, apparently, not everybody agrees.

In fact, one dude came into the Facebook group and said…

“600 bucks for 50 domains? 300$ for 5 domains? I’ll pass. I understand you have to make a living, but your pricing is getting crazy.“

It’s funny… because that was pretty much the exact opposite reaction as I had. I mean, jeez, anybody who has dealt with actual helpdesks knows how fast those monthly costs add up. The moment you add one other person to your team to help with email, you can easily be paying $50-$70 per month for a helpdesk and that’s for ONE SITE. So, it is just ridiculous to think Fluent Support is too expensive.

Plus, so nice of him to recognize that they need to “make a living”.

So, what makes the difference in attitude?

I think it is all about framing.

I don’t know the dude who said that, but he was comparing it to other fairly no-name helpdesk options for WordPress that were offered at a cheaper rate. And… he’s obviously shopping on the basis of price alone.

People who shop by price alone and are always trying to find the cheapest thing they can are…. a pain in the butt. Usually, they’re more likely to expect everything for next to nothing. They’re more likely to complain. As a business owner, they’re not worth worrying about.

Plus, that guy is anchoring the price DOWN. He’s comparing to other cheaper helpdesks. Which he is free to do, of course, but it doesn’t mean the team needs to worry about it.

Joining people in their own, personal race to zero in terms of pricing is always a bad idea when you’re a business owner.

So, my view on lessons on pricing here are…

#1 – Price Anchor To Higher Priced Things

When you’re setting the price for things you sell, you want to compare your offer to higher priced offers when you want your’s to be the better deal.

My instant reaction was that Fluent Support was a killer deal… but that is because I know and have personal experience with the cost of the competition. And the REAL competition of Fluent Support are indeed those hosted, third-party apps (like Helpscout). Comparing Fluent Support to some stupid low-priced WordPress plugin is not a valid comparison.

So, you shoot for outdoing higher priced options then price anchor to those. Frame your offer in the context of respected solutions in your marketplace.

#2 – Never Justify Your Price

Don’t waste your time getting into a conversation with somebody complaining that your price is too high and attempting to justify it. It isn’t worth the time.

Like I said, people who do that are almost always more trouble than they’re worth. If they complain about your price, then they don’t value and respect your offer. Concentrate on the people who do.

#3 – The Most Common Mistake Is To Underprice

Generally speaking, the most common mistake business owners and creators make is to underprice their offer.

I’m not in any way saying Fluent Support is underpriced, to be clear. I’m just making a general note. It is very common. I’ve done it myself, too.

As the creator, we know all the flaws. And it is also easy to get imposter syndrome and wonder how your offer could possibly be worth as much as some others.

In most cases, you should always aim higher than you think when you price anything you sell. Don’t ever get into the mindset of trying to undercut your competitors on price.

When you compete on price, you’re just in a race to the bottom. And no matter what you do, you will end up wasting a lot of time with complainers and people who are not valuing you or what you do.

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If you want more info on pricing, check out the related reading below. I’ve got an entire guide on pricing strategy you may find interesting.

As for Fluent Support, their launch lifetime offer is still in effect. And yes, while there were a handful of people who complained about the price, trust me…. this is a GREAT deal. The email piping feature alone puts it a cut above most helpdesk solutions that you can host yourself. Again, you can read my full review here.

Tech Talk

There’s a new skin available for Thrive Theme Builder and it is… kwik.

Marketed as fast, lightweight and geared toward maximizing your numbers in the Core Web Vitals. It is a pretty good looking theme, too. It isn’t going to rock your world over the Shapeshift and Omni skins that were already there, but the main difference is just a focus on using system fonts, light icons… and general design decisions that won’t weight your site down.

As with any skin for Theme Builder, it is all adjustable using the platform. Nothing is “stuck in stone”. And… even though I am no longer using Theme Builder at the Blog Marketing Academy due to my specific needs, I remain a massive fan of their platform and use it on numerous client sites.

Some more news from another of my favorites…. WP Fusion. Soon, he will be releasing a new add-on specifically for event tracking. This will allow you to create full event logs of everything your member(s) do on your site and track it all in your CRM.

It only works with CRMs that do event tracking. Unfortunately, this does not yet include FluentCRM since FCRM doesn’t yet have an activity log for each user. However, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see that functionality get added. Their new Fluent Support product does have an activity log for support tickets, so to repurpose that same basic code into FluentCRM would be dead easy for them.

Lastly, this is Black Friday week. Which means a lot of stuff will be for sale. So, just a reminder not to get too distracted by shiny objects.

Be willing to buy tools that solve specific, known tech constraints you have. Or to save money in your business. But, I don’t recommend you buy tools just because they look cool and want to buy it “just in case”. In most cases, those things never end up getting used. 🙂

Tech Talk

There's a new skin available for Thrive Theme Builder and it is... kwik.Marketed as fast, lightweight and geared toward maximizing your numbers in the Core Web Vitals. It is a pretty good looking theme, too. It isn't going to rock your world over the Shapeshift and Omni skins that were already there, but the main difference is just a focus on using system fonts, light icons... and general design decisions that won't weight your site down.As with any skin for Theme Builder, it is all adjustable using the platform. Nothing is "stuck in stone". And... even though I am no longer using Theme Builder at the Blog Marketing Academy due to my specific needs, I remain a massive fan of their platform and use it on numerous client sites.Some more news from another of my favorites.... WP Fusion. Soon, he will be releasing a new add-on specifically for event tracking. This will allow you to create full event logs of everything your member(s) do on your site and track it all in your CRM.It only works with CRMs that do event tracking. Unfortunately, this does not yet include FluentCRM since FCRM doesn't yet have an activity log for each user. However, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see that functionality get added. Their new Fluent Support product does have an activity log for support tickets, so to repurpose that same basic code into FluentCRM would be dead easy for them.Lastly, this is Black Friday week. Which means a lot of stuff will be for sale. So, just a reminder not to get too distracted by shiny objects.Be willing to buy tools that solve specific, known tech constraints you have. Or to save money in your business. But, I don't recommend you buy tools just because they look cool and want to buy it "just in case". In most cases, those things never end up getting used. 🙂