Worksheet: Ask customers what they would pay, and why

Watching competitors tells you what they charge. It says nothing about what your own customers would pay, or for what. This sheet asks two groups of customers about your three main products and writes the answers down by group. Elasticity from your sales history has its own row and its own sheet. It builds the Competent step of the check:

Willingness to pay has been researched for key products or segments within the last two years.

Step 1. Pick the products and the customers

Choose your three main products. Then choose two groups: your best customers, and your most price-sensitive ones. Aim for eight to ten people in each group.

Product	Why it matters (share of sales or margin)
e.g. Product 2	18% of gross margin

Customer group	How you will reach them	People to ask
e.g. Members who bought three times this year	Email invitation to a 15-minute call	10
e.g. Customers who only buy on promotion	Short survey after checkout	10

Step 2. Ask four price questions and one why

Ask each person the same questions about each product, in this order. At what price would it seem too cheap to trust? A good deal? Getting expensive? Too expensive to consider? Then ask what would make it worth more to them.

Customer group	Product	Too cheap to trust	A good deal	Getting expensive	Too expensive	What would make it worth more
e.g. Best customers	Product 2	$20	$35	$48	$60	Next-day delivery

Step 3. Write it down by customer group

Customer group	Product	Price most would call a good deal	What they would pay more for	What they would not pay for	Date asked

Where the two groups differ most, you have found a price difference worth designing. Keep the sheet, and ask again within two years.

Done when: at least two customer groups have been asked, in the last two years, what they would pay for your key products. The answers are written down by group.

Written for this check.