Pricing Surveys: Gathering Consumer Feedback on Pricing

Understanding how your target market perceives your pricing is crucial for maximizing revenue and customer satisfaction. Market research pricing surveys provide valuable insights into consumers’ willingness to pay, price sensitivities, and perceived value.

This post explores the different types of pricing surveys, best practices for designing effective questions, and how quantilope's pricing solutions help you unlock valuable pricing insights.

What is a pricing survey?

A pricing survey is a type of market research study used to gather customer feedback on pricing strategies and price points. It involves collecting data from respondents about their perceived value of a product or service, their willingness to pay at different price points, and their overall price sensitivity. Pricing insights help businesses determine the optimal price that maximizes their market share and profitability.

Pricing surveys can be conducted through various channels, though are most done through online surveys given their numerical focus, cost-effectiveness, speed, and ability to reach a geographically diverse audience.
Back to Table of Contents

Why use a pricing survey?

Pricing surveys are useful for businesses of all sizes, from startups that are launching a new product to established companies looking to optimize their existing pricing model. By understanding customer perceptions of price, businesses can make informed pricing decisions that drive revenue growth and enhance the customer experience.

Pricing surveys provide valuable data for:

New product pricing: Determining the right price for a new product launch is critical for its long-term success. Pricing surveys help you assess customer perceptions of product value and identify the optimal price point that balances affordability with profitability. This is especially important in today's competitive landscape, where consumers have numerous choices, making them more sensitive to price.
Optimizing existing pricing: Even established products or services benefit from pricing research. Pricing surveys reveal whether your current pricing is aligned with customer perceptions and identify opportunities to adjust prices to increase revenue, market share, or keep up with inflation.
Understanding price elasticity: Price elasticity measures how sensitive customers are to price changes. Pricing surveys quantify this sensitivity and predict how price changes will affect demand. Perhaps your product is perceived as having higher value than your current price reflects, leaving room to increase prices without significantly impacting sales volume. Conversely, you might identify price points where a small decrease could stimulate demand and lead to higher overall revenue. This knowledge is crucial for making informed pricing decisions and avoiding unintended consequences.
Segmenting your market: Pricing surveys help you identify different market segments with varying price sensitivities. This allows you to tailor your pricing strategy to different customer groups and maximize overall profitability. For example, you might offer premium pricing for a segment that values high quality and is less price-sensitive, while offering a more affordable option for a price-conscious segment.
Testing different pricing models: If you're considering introducing a new pricing model, such as subscription pricing or tiered pricing, surveys help you gauge customer acceptance for those models and identify potential challenges. Understanding how customers perceive different pricing models helps you choose the one that best aligns with their preferences and maximizes your revenue potential.
Monitoring competitor pricing: By including questions about competitor pricing in your surveys, you gain insights into how your pricing compares to the competition and can identify opportunities to differentiate yourself. This information helps you position your product effectively and maintain a competitive edge in the market.
Improving customer experience: Pricing surveys provide valuable insights into your customer experience journey and how customers perceive your pricing. This feedback will improve your pricing communication, help you address customer concerns, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.
Back to Table of Contents

Pricing survey types and methods

There are various types of pricing surveys, each with its own methodology and typical use cases. Some of the most common methods include:

Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter

The Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter (PSM) is a pricing research technique that aims to identify the acceptable price range for a product or service. It’s particularly useful for products where price is a key factor in purchasing decisions. The method works by asking respondents four key questions:

At what price would you consider the product to be so expensive that you would not consider buying it? (Too expensive)
At what price would you consider the product to be priced so low that you would feel the quality couldn’t be very good? (Too cheap)
At what price would you consider the product starting to get expensive, so that it is not out of the question, but you would have to give some thought to buying it? (Expensive)
At what price would you consider the product to be a bargain—a great buy for the money? (Cheap)

By analyzing the responses to these questions, you can identify the optimal price point that maximizes both perceived value and purchase intent. This pricing method helps you identify the point of marginal cheapness (PMC), where the product is perceived as too cheap to be good, the point of marginal expensiveness (PME), where the product starts to become too expensive, the indifference price point (IPP), where an equal number of respondents consider the price cheap and expensive, and the optimal price point (OPP), where the perceived value is maximized.

Conjoint analysis

Conjoint analysis is a pricing research method that measures the relative importance of different product features, including price. It mirrors a real-life shopping scenario where respondents weigh various product profiles and make trade-off decisions based on differing product attributes. By analyzing these trade-offs, businesses can determine the optimal combination of product features (which includes price) that will maximize customer value.

Conjoint analysis is particularly useful for complex products with multiple features and for understanding how price interacts with other product attributes to influence purchasing decisions. For example, a Conjoint analysis might reveal that customers are willing to pay a premium for a product with a specific feature, such as longer battery life or a larger screen size. This information can be used to justify a higher price for products with these features or to prioritize the development of features that customers value the most.

Gabor-Granger pricing method

The Gabor-Granger method involves presenting respondents with a specific price and asking them whether they would be willing to purchase the product at that price. This process is repeated with different price points to determine the price point at which the highest percentage of respondents indicate a willingness to buy. This pricing method is useful for fine-tuning pricing and identifying the price point that maximizes sales volume.

Example questions:

"Would you be willing to purchase this product for $50?"
"Would you be willing to purchase this product for $75?"
"Would you be willing to purchase this product for $100?"

The Gabor-Granger method provides a direct measure of purchase intent at various price points. By analyzing the responses, you can identify the price point that generates the highest level of purchase intent and optimize your pricing accordingly. This method is particularly useful for products with a relatively narrow price range and where purchase intent is highly sensitive to price.
Back to Table of Contents

Designing effective pricing survey questions

The success and actionability of your pricing survey depends on the quality of your pricing survey questions. Below are some key considerations for designing effective questions:

Clarity: Use clear and concise language that is easy for your target audience to understand. Avoid jargon or technical terms that may confuse respondents. Make sure your questions are unambiguous and avoid double negatives or leading questions.
Relevance: Ensure your questions are relevant to your pricing research objectives and focus on the specific information you need to gather. Avoid asking unnecessary questions that could lengthen the survey and reduce response rates.
Objectivity: Frame your questions in a neutral way to avoid survey bias, such as leading respondents towards a particular answer. Avoid using emotionally charged language or suggesting a preferred response.
Order: Carefully consider the order of your questions to avoid priming or influencing respondents' answers. Start with general questions and move towards more specific ones around price.
Context: Provide sufficient context for your questions, especially when asking about pricing. For example, if you are asking about the price of a new product, provide a clear description of the product and its features.
Visual aids: Use visual aids such as images or videos to enhance the survey experience and make it easier for respondents to understand the questions. This is particularly useful for Conjoint analysis where respondents are considering different product offerings and their attributes as if they were shopping in-store or online.
Testing: Pilot test your survey with a small group of respondents to identify any potential issues with the questions or the survey design. This can help you refine your questions and ensure that they are clear, relevant, and unbiased.

Examples of pricing survey questions:

"How much would you typically spend on a product like this?" (Open-ended with an image or clear description)
"What are the most important factors you consider when making a purchasing decision?" (Multiple choice)
"What is your overall impression of the value of this product?" (1-5 Rating scale)
"What are your thoughts on the current pricing of this product?" (Open-ended)
"What is the highest price you would be willing to pay for this product before you would consider alternatives?" (Open-ended)
"How does the price of this product compare to similar products offered by competitors?" (1-5 Rating scale)
Back to Table of Contents

Best practices for conducting pricing surveys

When planning, designing, and launching your pricing research survey, keep the following best practices in mind:

Define your objectives: Clearly define your pricing research objectives before designing your survey. This will ensure that your questions are focused and relevant. What specific pricing decisions do you need to make? What information do you need to gather to make those decisions? Your objectives should guide the actual design of your survey.
Target the right audience: Ensure your survey respondents are representative of your target market (i.e. the ones who will be buying your product/service). This will help you obtain accurate and reliable survey results. Consider factors such as age, gender, income level, location, and product usage when selecting your sample.
Choose the right survey tools: Select survey tools that are appropriate for your pricing research needs and your target audience. Consider factors such as ease of use, cost, and features that will streamline your end-to-end process.
Offer incentives: Offering incentives such as gift cards or discounts can help increase response rates. The type and value of the incentive should be appropriate for your target audience and the length of the survey.
Ensure anonymity and confidentiality: Assure respondents that their responses will be kept anonymous and confidential. This can encourage them to provide honest and candid feedback.
Keep it concise: Avoid making your survey too long or complex. Respondents are more likely to complete a shorter survey, which can improve your response rate and data quality.
Back to Table of Contents

Unlock pricing insights with quantilope's survey solutions

quantilope's automated survey platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools to help you conduct effective pricing surveys and gather valuable customer feedback. With quantilope, researchers have access to:

Pre-built pricing survey templates: Start your pricing survey from a pre-built yet customizable survey template, saving you time and ensuring that your survey is based on sound methodology.
Advanced question types: Choose from quantilope’s largest suite of advanced question types such as Conjoint analysis, Price Sensitivity Meter, or even MaxDiff to provide deeper insights into customer preferences.
Targeted sampling: Reach your target market through your own panel sources or lean on one of our trusted panel partners. Easily set up screening criteria and quota monitoring to capture only valid respondents.
Automated data analysis: Analyze survey data with automated statistical analysis and intuitive visualizations to help you understand your results. No manual data labeling or statistical calculations required.
Real-time reporting: Monitor results in real-time, as soon as respondents submit their surveys. This helps businesses get an early pulse on their pricing decisions so they can quickly adjust or pivot if needed.

By leveraging quantilope's advanced capabilities, you can gain a deep understanding of your customers’ willingness to pay, identify the optimal price point for your products or services, and optimize your pricing strategy to maximize revenue and customer satisfaction. quantilope’s Consumer Intelligence Platform empowers you to make data-driven pricing decisions that enhance the customer experience and drive business growth.

Learn more about pricing research with quantilope using the form below!