Worksheet: Add two price questions to the survey you already run

Customers act on what they think your prices are, which is not always what they are. This sheet adds two fixed questions to a survey you already run and plots the answers each quarter against your real price gap. It builds the Competent step of the check:

Price perception and value for money are measured on a schedule for key customer groups, and the result is reported.

Step 1. The two questions

Keep the wording fixed. Change it and the series breaks.

"Compared with other places you could buy this, are our prices much lower, a little lower, about the same, a little higher, or much higher?"
"For what you get, how good is our value for money, from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent)?"

Step 2. Where they go

Survey you already run	How often	Responses per customer group	Owner
e.g. Post-purchase email survey	Continuous, reported quarterly	At least 200	Customer insights lead

Step 3. Plot them against the real gap

Take the real gap from your competitor price record.

Quarter	Customer group	Price perception (1 much lower to 5 much higher)	Value for money (1 to 5)	Real price gap to main competitor (%)

Perception moves, the real gap does not: your message or your mix changed what customers notice.
The real gap moves, perception does not: customers have not noticed yet. Decide whether you want them to.

Step 4. Report it

Quarter	Reported to	Date	The main shift, in one line

Done when: price perception and value for money are measured on schedule for your key customer groups, and the result is reported each quarter.

Adapted from our own pricing approach (PSP, 2007).