Companies can use different pricing strategies to attract customers and keep them invested in the business. For some, competitive pricing appears to be the best option because it capitalizes on people’s desire to save money. However, this approach is not always practical, as many consumers are willing to pay more for special treatment, comfort, or additional features. According to Mohammed (2018), many organizations can benefit from implementing a Good-Better-Best pricing model. This strategy offers several product or service tiers, each containing more features than the last. The idea of this model is that most customers are willing to pay more for a product to not trade down for a less appealing version. This strategy can be used for online and mobile-based applications, which often already have some tiers. For instance, such apps as Ten Percent Happier may benefit from changing their approach to a Good-Better-Best model.
Currently, the app Ten Percent Happier operates using a freemium model. It has two tiers – a free version with limited features – and a premium subscription that gives users full access to its library of sounds, guided meditations, challenges, and podcasts (Ten Percent Happier, 2022). While this strategy may be attractive to customers, it lacks variety. This may make many clients hesitant to choose the premium version over the free one. Thus, the inclusion of the Good-Better-Best model has to focus on finding which features of the current premium model can convince not paying users to upgrade. It is vital to note that the free version of the app cannot be removed to keep an option for users who want to download and try out the application without committing to it. It can be viewed as the “Good” part of the strategy, although it brings revenue only through advertising.
The “Better” option has to include some features that the customers deem necessary. For many, advertising-free meditations and podcasts and more choices of meditation exercises and sounds can become the basis of this package. Therefore, the “Better” version of the app should include everything free users can access, such as the main meditation course, the weekly newsletter, and a one free meditation challenge. Next, the company can add a range of other meditations and a small number of challenges that can be opened at specific periods. This tier should also allow customers to listen to all products without ads – a feature many users will likely want.
Finally, the “Best” version should focus on building a personal connection with the user to increase their feelings of comfort and exclusivity. At the moment, the premium feature includes meditation courses with experts. This service can become a part of the “Best” tier, and the organization can add regular posts from these experts or an ability to ask them questions to be answered in a premium newsletter or blog post. These options will create a channel between the company and the customer and establish a relationship where users can gain more from a more expensive subscription. Furthermore, the users will be able to choose from all existing meditations and participate in challenges regardless of the time limit.
The Good-Better-Best approach can improve the freemium model used by many companies creating mobile applications. Such apps as Ten Percent Happier have a simple tier spectrum that includes a free and a paid version. This model attracts consumers but keeps many of them reluctant to pay. A new strategy that adds more tiers keeps some of the best features – such as the lack of advertising and more choice options – in the “Better” option while presenting different experiences at all tiers.
References
Mohammed, R. (2018). The good-better-best approach to pricing. Harvard Business Review, 96(5), 106-115.
Ten Percent Happier. (2022). Membership. Web.