How To Price Your Startup’s Subscription Product

It’s More Than Just Announcing 12 “Easy-To-Afford” Payments

Make no mistake. The fastest path for a company to create recurring revenue is by offering their product to an army of customers via subscription.

But the thing about an army: If you don’t keep it fed and happy, it’s not going to fight for you.

I’ve been developing subscription products for more than two decades. I’ve built subscription models around everything from content to consulting to car washes. If your product or service lends itself to a subscription model, I say, by all means, go for it. But you have to settle on pricing that keeps your army growing and marching forward.

It’s not as easy as breaking down your costs into 12 easy-to-afford monthly payments and sprinkling on a little profit. Or is it?

TL;DR: No. It’s never that easy. But here are some questions you’ll want to answer to get you in the ballpark.

What’s The Offer?

The first rule of the subscription model is that it works completely differently depending on what’s being offered and how.

Physical goods move under a vastly different supply-and-demand model than services. Information-as-a-service has wildly…