Getting your pricing strategy right can make or break market share. Great product marketers know that a well executed strategy doesn't just drive revenue; it shapes perception, influences adoption, and can determine whether your product wins or loses in the market.
Joining us on this journey is someone who knows all about turning the tides with pricing—Nupur Bhade Vilas, who heads up product marketing at Kustomer. She's a force, well-known for pushing AI-powered customer experiences and driving go-to-market strategies that make waves. Having led game-changing initiatives at places like Twilio, Nupur brings this incredible insight in our conversation on aligning pricing with real customer value.
The Underrated Power of Pricing
Nupur highlights a vital point: in many companies, pricing is this often-overlooked lever that doesn't sit with product marketing. Instead, it lives in finance or sales. But when PMMs get to steer the ship, it’s magic. She stresses that pricing must evolve alongside the market, especially now with AI shaping the landscape.
4 Phases of Pricing Transformation
Together, Nupur and I explore the essential phases of transforming your pricing strategy: Discovery, Research, Design, and Operationalization:
1. Discovery: This phase is all about clarifying the problem you aim to solve, leveraging insights from leadership to uncover the roots and shape your strategy.
2. Research: From diving deep into competitor tactics to customer surveys, it’s a journey of learning and understanding industry norms and disrupters.
3. Design: This is where you build your pricing packages with precision, ensuring clarity and safeguarding margins, guided by a solid, data-driven approach.
4. Operationalization: Moving from concept to execution—this phase requires tight collaboration across departments to ensure consistency and avoid customer confusion.
Securing Stakeholder Buy-In
We face the reality of winning over stakeholders, from the executive level to the operational groups. Nupur speaks about the clever use of a ‘SWAT team’ post-rollout to maintain nimbleness and keep the strategy aligned and responsive.
Embracing Evolution and Flexibility
Nupur emphasizes that pricing isn’t a ‘set and forget’ aspect of product marketing. It requires ongoing feedback and the freedom to adapt. Her comparison with Netflix’s paced transition from DVDs to streaming nailed the point—you’ve got to give change its space, allowing customers to ease into it.
Ultimate Takeaways for PMMs
For any PMM on the brink of a pricing transformation, remember: flexibility is key. Stay customer-focused, and let your strategy grow with your business dynamics. Keep tweaking based on feedback and ensure that your pricing approach continually aligns with customer needs.
A Nod to Creativity and Authentic Branding
Before signing off, Nupur shares her take on Pierre, a company that grabbed her attention with its audacious branding around code review collaboration. It’s a brilliant reminder of how creativity and authenticity can redefine market norms. We also talk through ideas about beneficial next phases for Pierre’s new product rollout, and Nupur discusses her thoughts on how they could more clearly convey what they have on offer.
So, here’s to all product marketers—embrace change, step into your customer's shoes, and inject your strategy with the boldness and creativity that define leaders like Nupur.
LINKS
Connect with Nupur:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nupurbhade/
Connect with Elle:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle3izabeth/
