Six decisions, in order. Each has one number that tells you whether you got it right, and one common way it goes wrong.
Most brands make one of these decisions, the new price, and let the other five happen by accident.
| Decision | The question | The number that tells you | Where it goes wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. How much | How many buyers can this rise lose and still pay? | Break-even volume loss, per SKU | A rise sized to the cost, not to the margin |
| 2. Why | Will customers call the reason fair? | Complaints and cancel reasons that mention price | No reason, or a reason that sounds like opportunity |
| 3. What | Which prices move, and which stay? | Share of revenue from SKUs whose price customers know | Raising the hero first because it sells most |
| 4. Who first | Who hears before the site changes? | Share of subscribers and repeat buyers notified in time | Loyal customers learning the price from a charge |
| 5. What else | Where does a customer already pay more than a stranger? | Discount depth, new versus returning buyers | A new higher price next to a welcome offer existing customers can’t use |
| 6. Did it work | Did the customers who saw it stay? | 90- and 180-day repeat rate against a comparison group | Judging it on the next week’s conversion rate |
The decisions pull on each other. A bigger rise makes the reason matter more. Protecting subscribers costs money you count against the rise. A loyalty tax customers lived with at the old price becomes a reason to leave at the new one.
This is one chapter of The Price Rise, which is free and readable in full on a single page with no form in front of it.