Pay What You Want Pricing,
at first,
seems like
the perfect type of pricing.
Customers are always happy
with the pricing
because they set it.
Business owners hope
the generous few
offset the cheap many.
What it truly does
is push the burden
of market research
on the average customer.
Because the average customer
will want to pay
the average price
and they can’t do that
unless they know
what everyone else is charging.
So they investigate that
and, while doing that work,
they will likely find
a competitor who is also
offering what they want
and at a set price.
The customer knows
that competitor will be happy
with that price.
They don’t know that
about the Pay What You Want business.
Some Pay What You Want businesses
have ‘solved’ this issue
by stating the average price
customers pay,
which, of course,
merely becomes the set price.
Pay What You Want pricing
can be a great choice
for some businesses
but it isn’t the ideal pricing
for every customer.
Don’t expect
to make everyone happy
by offering it.