---
name: pricing-packaging-strategy
description: Design, audit, and test pricing and packaging strategy. Use when Codex is asked about SaaS pricing, product tiers, packaging, value metrics, subscriptions, usage-based billing, freemium, trials, discounts, pay-what-you-want, donations, monetization, willingness to pay, pricing pages, billing implications, or pricing experiments.
---

# Pricing Packaging Strategy

## Core Workflow

1. Identify product, segment, buyer, value metric, willingness-to-pay evidence, sales motion, cost structure, billing system, and strategic goal.
2. Choose the pricing model before price points: flat-rate, per-seat, usage-based, tiered, hybrid, freemium, trial, donation/pay-what-you-want, enterprise quote, or transactional.
3. Package by buyer value and upgrade motivation, not by internal feature lists alone.
4. Define guardrails: margin, support burden, abuse risk, sales complexity, billing complexity, compliance, taxes, refunds, and customer trust.
5. Validate with customer research, competitive research, sales evidence, conversion data, and experiments.
6. Translate strategy into pricing page, checkout, billing, CRM, analytics, and sales enablement requirements.

## Freshness Rule

Verify current payment processor, billing platform, tax, app-store/platform, and marketplace documentation before tactical implementation advice. Pricing strategy is durable; billing mechanics, tax handling, platform fees, and product capabilities change quickly.

## Pricing Principles

- Price should track customer value more than internal cost.
- Good tiers create clear upgrade moments and reduce buyer confusion.
- Usage-based pricing needs predictable units, customer visibility, and spend controls.
- Freemium and free trials need an activation path and conversion logic.
- Discounts should have a reason, approval path, and expiration.
- Pay-what-you-want and donations need realistic conversion expectations and page copy that explains support.

## Deliverable Shape

For pricing work, provide:

- Segment and value metric
- Pricing model recommendation
- Tier/package structure
- Price-point assumptions and evidence gaps
- Billing and operational implications
- Pricing page or sales enablement guidance
- Experiment or validation plan

## References

- Read `references/pricing-packaging-checklist.md` when designing or reviewing pricing and packaging.