How do I run a pricing or packaging experiment on a live self-serve funnel without blowing up revenue?

Seven hybrid pricing patterns with named companies (GitHub, Shopify, Intercom, Zapier), plus Poyar's point that the enemy is not subscriptions, it is inflexible upfront commitments.

The state of usage-based pricing in SaaS

From Growth Unhinged by Kyle Poyar 12 min read

• Usage-based pricing adoption slipped from 46 to 41 percent year on year, with 17 percent testing it.
• Most usage-based businesses run a hybrid, not pure pay-as-you-go.
• Intercom's Fin charges $0.99 per successful resolution, pricing on the outcome.
• The real problem is not usage versus subscription, it is inflexible upfront commitments.

A short, specific list of what to instrument on a self-serve funnel, including time to activation and time to convert, which are the two most people forget to track at all.

Top 10 Metrics to Measure Freemium and Free Trial Performance

From Amplitude by Carmen DeCouto 12 min read

• Average day-seven activation is 6.8 percent, 5.1 percent in retail and 10 percent in manufacturing.
• Amplitude's own freemium users tend to reach higher lifetime value than those who start paid.
• For B2B products a weekly metrics check is a good starting cadence.
• Track in-product calls to action to talk to sales as the bridge from PLG to sales.

Poyar replaces the sales funnel with a five stage new user journey (discover, start, activate, convert, scale) and attaches benchmark ranges to each. It is how you find out which stage is actually broken.

Your guide to PLG benchmarks

From Growth Unhinged by Kyle Poyar 10 min read

• Gartner data cited: only 5 to 6 percent of buying activity is spent meeting a vendor's reps.
• Product-led companies were 55 percent of respondents, up from 48 percent in 2020.
• Benchmarks drawn from 450+ software companies, from under $1M to $100M+ ARR.

A full 0 to 100M ARR guide from an Indian company that lived it, covering acquisition, activation, retention, monetisation and the metrics for each. The best single India-built reference on self-serve.

The Revenue Growth Guide for Self-Serve SaaS Businesses

From Chargebee 45 min read

• 20 to 40 percent of all churn is involuntary, driven by failed payments rather than unhappiness.
• Companies going public hold net dollar retention above 110 percent.
• Help Scout users pay 143 percent of average revenue per customer after 23 billing cycles.
• Virality only compounds when the k factor is greater than 1.

Shoor changed pricing repeatedly at Kayako and talks about what it did to existing customers, which is the risk this question is really asking about. He is candid about the changes that cost him rather than just the wins.

Getting SaaS pricing right (1/2) - Varun Shoor, Kayako | BTS E14 | SaaSBoomi Podcast

On SaaSBoomi Podcast by Varun Shoor 45 min