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44 Comments

Is it a natural tendency of people to look at the price of a SaaS before using it?

I have noticed that most visitors on my product – slantit.app, first go on the pricing page to check the pricing and decide whether they should proceed even without trying out the product and experiencing the convenience it brings with 100% free, no account required plan.

Have you also faced the same in your products? How have you mitigated it? Or is it just me overthinking 🙈

  1. 5

    I arrive at a SaaS landing page because I already know what the SaaS does. The next thing I want to know is the pricing, which from the analytics’ point of view is the first thing I check.

    1. 1

      Hmm interesting, thanks!

  2. 5

    Hey @AkashHamirwasia 👋

    I suspect it's normal behaviour for most users.

    What I will say is it wasn't clear to me that trying the $0 free plan doesn't require me to set up an account. That's a cool value add that you need to make clearer. Maybe under the 'Go to Editor' CTA or something - probably even in the heading text or somewhere.

    At the end of the day, giving an email address and setting up an account isn't free. There's a value to that. You're removing that friction so should shout about it.

    I can see it's in your homepage hero section, but not mentioned on the pricing page. It's worth tweaking that and see if the free plan adoption improves.

    Good luck!

    1. 1

      Hey @norriehansen, good catch. I missed the value of mentioning "no account required" even on the pricing page which seems natural now that you brought it up. Thanks!

      By the way, what do you think of the pricing of the product? Do you think it is correctly priced for a product that just recently launched and the value it adds?

      1. 2

        I guess I'd liken it to Filmora (sorta, kinda) in that it's an easy-to-use drag and drop film editor, but with the niche/focus that it's product demo specific. Filmora gives you a perpetual licence for $79.99 and that lets you do every kind of video editing you can imagine. So for something streamlined like this, $49 one-time fee does seem right. Take the comparison of Filmora out the equation, as a standalone price, it's a steal.

        I watched your demo video and really like it. I have questions that I can't see on the website, like:

        • Can you add audio clips to your file, like background music or voiceover narration?
        • Can you add any other kind of graphic to it, like text only screens?

        I'm still trying to figure it out, and I do love that I can just go into the editor for free and experiment. I think you've got a good thing going here.

        1. 1

          Thanks for the feedback!

          Can you add audio clips to your file, like background music or voiceover narration?

          Yes, music is supported along with smart beat detection (Realised landing page does not talk about this at all, will update)

          Can you add any other kind of graphic to it, like text only screens?

          Not at the moment.

  3. 4

    Yes, normal. I 100% always do that. If there is no pricing, I go away.

    1. 1

      Yes. 100% this.

      I regularly stumble upon SaaS that don't communicate pricing transparently. This is a clear red flag to me. My business pain must be ginormous for me to proceed.

    2. 1

      @strzibnyj What do you mean by "If there is no pricing, I go away."? You go away if a SaaS does not have pricing page? Or do you mean if the pricing is not transparent?

      1. 1

        Yep, if I cannot figure out how much I would pay

  4. 3

    Useful observation. I've not thought about it but my own tendency is to always check the pricing page first. Partly, I'm curious as to how people are pricing products. But, from the customer perspective, I want to make sure the pricing is even within a range where it's worth taking a closer look at the product.

    You have a nice looking site and the pricing looks reasonable. Good luck!

    1. 1

      Sounds similar to what others have shared too.
      Thanks for the feedback on the pricing :)

  5. 2

    Working at different Saas companies and I can say the top page after / is usually /pricing :)

  6. 2

    For me it’s because there is often effort to set something up. If it’s free now but I’ll eventually need to pay, May as well know the price before trying.

    1. 1

      Same here. If it's B2B specially, I look it with a 1/2 year in advance perspective.

      Really like the platform, I would price it as a subscription for $20/month. "One-time" payment is just bad for you. And as you say, bad for users also (they don't want that business model).

  7. 2

    Why should I read about a product if it's out of my budget? When you see a Ferrari, you first look at the price, and then at the material the seats are made of.

    1. 1

      I get your point, but would you also not try it if you were given a chance for free?

      1. 1

        Because I've seen so many different SaaS that sound great and then the only price for the functional version they have is $XXXX or even just "Contact us" - why did I waste my time reading and trying the product when my budget is only $X max anyways?

        Also nowadays there's not so many little truly unique SaaS'es, so why don't I invest time into studying ones I could actually afford?

        That's certainly a point of view of a budget constrained buyer, big corporate bosses have a different point of view that often.. also needs a price check for the opposite reason - it can feel real bad for an enterprise boss to suggest buying a "toy software" that only costs $X a month and doesn't have a Contact Us for the big clients :)

      2. 1

        If the features and price suit me, then the free plan would be a great opportunity to test the SaaS. However, usually I'm looking for something for long-term use, and if I know that the price is too high for me, then the free plan won't help (I'm too lazy to switch to another platform after a 2-week free period).

  8. 2

    I do it all the time. If pricing says contact sales, that’s a big red flag.

    Also, if the price is out of my budget, I’ll leave.

  9. 2

    I do this too. I don't want to waste my time if the pricing isn't going to work for me.

  10. 2

    I guess I do the same. The psychology is, I don't want to convince myself I want something I can't afford and get locked into using it. Although I will utilize some free plans of expensive apps, that's also why I check the pricing page to see if there is a free plan (Or if the price is affordable for me) before looking more into it. It's a lot like looking at the menu of an expensive restaurant you can't eat at, you'll start craving the food after - sometimes ignorance is bliss.

  11. 1

    Yes. They want to avoid a scenario in which they will spend a ton of time in trial of something they eventually cannot afford. Which is also why clients who say they don't know what's the budget for the solution you are selling is bullshit.

  12. 1

    I do it all the time. Especially because the pricing page is the quickest way to check the feature list of the SaaS product. I also happen to leave the site at this page if I don't value the solution at a given price point.

  13. 1

    Yes, many businesses experience visitors going to the pricing page first. To mitigate this, you can consider offering a free trial or emphasizing the benefits and features of the product on the homepage. It's a common challenge, but there are ways to address it effectively. Don't worry, you're not overthinking!

  14. 1

    It depends on the requirement, suppose if the team or guy checking for urgent requirements they would definitely go for pricing the first time on the website itself. But if someone who landed from the search would check all features then they would prefer to check the pricing because if they are only satisfied with their desired qualities and requirement, they only even try the product(My opinion).

  15. 1

    Its totally natural. There are many SaaS products are available in market today which give the same features/ services and people know that. So its natural people will look for the affordable options. So looking at pricing is pretty normal behaviour.

  16. 1

    Hey Akash!

    It's definitely normal behavior but it also highly depends on the app itself as well as how you guide the user.

    I learned that depending on the app, and in particular if you have a compelling FREE plan or extended trial you could add the PRICING page to the footer and/or introduce pricing after people have signed up and understood the value of your product.

    This way people will still find the pricing, and those to whom it is of major concern, they might still navigate there first, but for everyone else, you might get more people into your product, have them enjoy and understand the value, and THEN look at the pricing in order to justify it.

    The goal here is that you don't want to HIDE the pricing (some consider this a dark pattern) but you want to stage your product properly to establish more understanding for what it is before telling them the price.

    By putting PRICING very visibly into the main navigation, you're automatically suggesting that I'm clicking on it. Similar to how some stores put smaller price stickers on their products, and high-end stores put no price stickers on their products because they know that their audience either doesn't care about the price, or will investigate the price once an interest for a product has been established.

    Long story short: Experience with the messaging, try getting people understand the value of the product and perhaps even experience it before finding the need to dig deeper into the pricing.

    Hope this helps!

    PS: My advice doesn't work for all products or categories, but it does for some.

  17. 1

    Your landing page is awesome! I left a few comments on Markup to give you some feedback, courtesy of roasti.co - you can find them here: https://app.markup.io/invite/accept/U4d3FR63

    I hope you'll find my feedback helpful!

  18. 1

    I do this as well ofc, would be cool to see if anyone else can back this up with their own data!

  19. 1

    Of course, I usually check out the pricing even for the freemium products. Why? Because you will outgrow the free plan and go after the premium - you want to know is it affordable and plan your budget

    1. 1

      I also see on Omnisome.com people checking out the pricing page constantly.

  20. 1

    Not surprisingly, few people have an unlimited budget.

  21. 1

    I usually briefly scan the landing page to get an idea of what features that app has, then immediately jump over to pricing.

  22. 1

    Just a feedback but I was a bit confused with the hero.
    "Slant it makes it easy" wasn't too clear to me. Could flipping that to "make catchy product videos" as a bigger font make it clear? Then I might just click "start"🤔

    1. 1

      Will take a look at it again @massanishi, thanks! But were you able to figure out what the product does from the rest of the sections on landing page?

      1. 1

        I've tested out your product. Your product is cool:) I'd imagined 3D animation would be more like Blender graphics. But it's more like CSS animation eh. There might be a better wording than calling it 3D?

        I think something like the video of before and after the transformation would help. I have to say the big visual below the Try it Out Now doesn't explain the concept at all.

        *Please take it with a grain of salt. I'm not a pro video editor. Just a guy that sometimes edit videos for cropping/quicktimes/imovie.
        **I've only looked at the landing page and try out page. No feature/pricing pages visited.

        1. 2

          Thanks for the feedback. I felt 3D animation would connect better than saying CSS animation to users, couldn't think of a better term apart from 3D.

          The before and after video sounds like a good idea, will try it out!

  23. 1

    I personally always look at the pricing first to see if

    A. There is a Free Tier, and the free signup that is being advertised is not just a Free Trial
    B. Would the Free Tier accomplish what I need, and if not, how much would I need to pay to get it accomplished

    1. 1

      Got it, thanks for sharing

  24. 1

    It's a natural tendency of humans buying anything to look at the price before trying / buying it.

  25. 1

    Yes, it´s the same with our SaaS pricing page. I guess it is because of 2 major developments:

    1. Lifetime Deal platforms like AppSumo are killing the SaaS value as users are conditioned to look for a ridiculous price drop that is not sustainable for any startup. These users are basically looking to get great value for free.

    2. There is a similar ridiculous counter-movement from SaaS founders charging an arm and a leg for a trivial 24h no-code tool that is actually only a one-trick pony.

    The SaaS market is in deep trouble right now and needs saving!

  26. 0

    Yes, it is a natural tendency for people to consider the price of a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) before deciding to use it. Pricing is an important factor that influences the decision-making process for individuals and businesses when selecting a SaaS product. People generally want to understand the cost implications and value proposition of a service before committing to it.

    When evaluating a SaaS, people often compare prices among different providers to assess the affordability and determine if the benefits of the service outweigh the cost. Pricing information helps users set expectations, assess the product's suitability for their needs, and make informed decisions.

    However, it's worth noting that while price is an important consideration, it is not the sole factor that determines the adoption of a SaaS. Other factors such as functionality, ease of use, reliability, customer support, and integration capabilities also play significant roles in the decision-making process.

    1. 2

      Do you really need chatGPT for replies?

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