How can we figure out which value metric customers care about most and would find fairest? Would surveying customers about how they’d prefer to be billed yield useful insights, or do preferences vary too much?

Based on our book Price to Scale, identifying the value metric that resonates best with your customers involves both qualitative and quantitative insights. Here’s an approach distilled from our methodology:

• Directly engage with customers:
Our book recommends asking targeted, survey-type questions to gauge customer preferences. For example, you can inquire whether a per-seat model or a usage-based model better reflects the value they receive from your product. These questions help you isolate which features matter most and steer you toward the metric that aligns best with the customer's value perception.

• Evaluate against specific criteria:
We advise subjecting each value metric candidate to clear criteria—ensuring it is:

Predictable: Can customers foresee their bills with consistency?
Acceptable: Will the billing model logically resonate with a diverse customer base?
Trackable: Is the underlying usage or value easily measurable?
Assessing metrics based on these factors ensures that you choose a billing method that’s both fair and sustainable for your business model.

• Recognize variability in preferences:
While surveying offers useful insights, our pricing strategy book also highlights that customer preferences may vary across different segments. Therefore, while the survey data illuminates general trends, complementing this approach with usage data and customer interviews can help capture the nuances across your market segments.

In summary, using customer surveys—as part of a broader framework of analysis—provides valuable insights into which value metric customers care about most. When combined with the criteria of predictability, acceptability, and trackability, you can better align your billing strategy with customer value, while accounting for any variability in preferences.