B2B pricing strategy: five options, a worked example and the research...

A pricing strategy is the set of choices behind your price: what you charge for, how you package it, where the price sits relative to the buyer's alternatives, and how discounts are handled. The five strategies that guides such as Stripe's list are cost-plus, competitive, value-based, penetration and skimming. In B2B you usually combine them: value sets the ceiling, costs set the floor, and alternatives decide where in between a buyer will accept.

This guide explains each strategy, works through a hypothetical B2B example, and lists the research that should sit behind each choice.

The five common pricing strategies

Stripe's pricing guide describes the five this way; the "research you need" column is ours.

Strategy	How the price is set	Fits when	Research you need
Cost-plus	Your cost plus a markup	Costs are stable and buyers expect standard margins	Accurate cost per customer, including support
Competitive	Above, at or below what similar products charge	Buyers comparison-shop in a crowded category	Real prices paid, not only list prices
Value-based	A share of the value the customer gets	The product drives a clear, high-value outcome for the buyer	Interviews that quantify the problem and who benefits
Penetration	Low at launch to win customers, raised later	Value grows with usage or network effects	A plan and evidence for raising prices later
Skimming	High at launch for early adopters, lowered later	New, hard to copy, with a segment keen to be first	Evidence that an early segment exists and will pay more

Stripe's own examples: at cost-plus, a product that costs $35 to make with a 100% markup sells for $70; at value-based, if a product saves a company $50,000 a year, charging $10,000 a year "might feel like a solid choice."

Why the price level deserves attention

Price changes flow almost straight to profit. McKinsey's 2003 analysis of the average S&P 1500 income statement found that a 1% price rise with stable volume would raise operating profit by 8%, and that volume would need to rise 18.7% just to offset a 5% price cut. Read McKinsey's analysis. Those figures describe large public companies two decades ago, so check your own numbers.

You can do that in one line. Hypothetically, if revenue is $1,000,000 and operating profit is $100,000 (a 10% margin), a 1% price increase with no lost customers adds $10,000, which is 10% more profit. The thinner your margin, the more each point of price matters.

B2B pricing decisions beyond the strategy label

The charge unit. Per seat, per location, per transaction or a flat fee. A good unit grows as the customer gets more value and is easy for the buyer to predict.

Packaging. Which features or service levels go in which plan, and what makes someone move up.

List price versus the price you keep. McKinsey calls this the pocket price waterfall: the list price minus every discount, rebate, payment term and allowance. At one lighting supplier it describes, average invoice prices were 32.8% below list, and the final pocket price was about half of list once off-invoice items were counted. In B2B software the same leak happens through discounts, free months and custom terms.

Who agrees to the price. The user, the budget holder and procurement may each react differently. How to interview users, buyers and champions covers talking to each.

A worked example

Suppose you sell software that tracks insurance certificates and safety documents for construction subcontractors. The example is hypothetical, and each decision is paired with the research behind it.

Unit: per active project, not per user. Interviews show a subcontractor's document work grows with the number of jobs, while only one or two office staff use the tool. Pricing per user would look cheap but capture little from busy firms.

Strategy: value-based within the range buyers already pay. Office managers describe spending about six hours a week chasing certificates. At a loaded cost of $35 an hour, that is 6 × 52 / 12 × $35 ≈ $910 a month for a firm with around 10 active projects, or about $91 per project. You would not charge the full value; a price of $25 to $40 per project leaves most of it with the customer.

Level: check against alternatives. Buyers compare you with a spreadsheet and with general document tools. If the general tools cost less, your price has to be justified by something they notice, such as fewer missed expirations. Interviews with sales professionals in construction technology can tell you how similar tools are usually priced and bought.

Discount rules: decide in advance. For example, 15% off for annual prepayment and nothing else without approval. Write the rule down before the first large customer asks.

Research behind each choice

Choice	Evidence that supports it	How to get it
Charge unit	The unit buyers already use to think about the work	Buyer interviews about recent purchases
Price ceiling	The cost of the problem and who bears it	Interviews that walk through a recent occurrence
Price level	Real prices paid for alternatives, including staff time	Buyer and expert interviews, public price pages
Price range to test	How buyers perceive a range of prices	A Van Westendorp survey or a Gabor-Granger survey
Final price	What buyers do when shown a price	Live offers, pilots and tracked discounting

Pricing research lists example questions for each method, and willingness to pay explains why stated prices run high.

When to revisit your strategy

Stripe recommends treating the launch price as a working hypothesis and watching conversion, how often sales discount, and customer feedback. It also cites a 2023 Simon-Kucher report finding that lack of confidence and fear of losing customers are among the most common reasons B2B SaaS companies do not raise prices. Good research is what gives you the confidence to change a price, or to leave it alone.

YC's Startup Pricing 101 talk by Kevin Hale is a useful companion on how pricing ties to customer acquisition.

Next step

Pick the one choice you are least sure of, often the charge unit, and plan five to eight interviews about it. If you need subcontractors, buyers or procurement professionals in construction technology, search on Instant Expert. It finds people whose work matches your question, you review them, it sends your invitations, and you pay for each call that gets booked. How to price a product turns the strategy into a first number.