Do we need to provide customers with detailed usage dashboards or alerts in a usage-based model, so they can monitor their consumption and avoid surprises? Have others found providing such tooling important for customer satisfaction?

Based on our saas pricing book, Price to Scale, the answer is yes – it's essential to provide customers with clear and detailed usage dashboards and alerts in a usage-based model. Here’s why:

• Transparency Is Key: Our book emphasizes that in the cloud world, measurement, tracking, and reporting are of paramount importance. Customers need to have a clear understanding of how their usage is being measured to feel confident in how charges are applied.

• Avoiding Surprises: Detailed dashboards and usage alerts allow customers to monitor their consumption in real-time, which helps them avoid unexpected charges. This level of transparency builds trust and can enhance overall customer satisfaction.

• Alignment with Market Practices: As highlighted, modern usage-based pricing requires not only robust tracking but also easy-to-understand billing and reporting mechanisms. Several successful companies, as noted in our discussion, have implemented similar strategies to ensure their customers get clear insights into metrics such as the number of events, storage, or transactions being billed.

In summary, providing detailed usage dashboards and alerts not only aligns with the principles discussed in Price to Scale but also plays a critical role in ensuring consistent customer satisfaction and trust in a usage-based model.