I worked with a firm launching a new product recently. They came to me to see what I thought and give an honest opinion. My opinion was that the product was great, so I asked how much it was...they proceeded to share with me one of the most complicated pricing structures I have ever seen. I recommended they simplify it before they went to market. They did not heed my advice. When the product launched they immediately had some interest, and every time they got to pricing, they lost the customer and the deal. They have since restructured the pricing and made it; as you guessed, simple.
The Corporate Executive Board, recently conducted a study focused in on what makes consumers “sticky.” "We looked at the impact on stickiness of more than 40 variables, including price, customers’ perceptions of a brand, and how often consumers interacted with the brand. The single biggest driver of stickiness, by far, was “decision simplicity”—the ease with which consumers can gather trustworthy information about a product and confidently and efficiently weigh their purchase options." Big shock, they found that what consumers want is, simply, simplicity.
The article further shows the top ten reasons customers connect online, the number one reason DISCOUNTS.
A portion of this blog is republished from the Harvard Business Review: http://hbr.org/2012/05/to-keep-your-customers-keep-it-simple/ar/1
