Price Transparency: Putting the customer first in B2B software
Customer Focus is one of our core cultural values at Mixpanel. We respect our customers’ time and strive to make buying software as seamless and frictionless as subscribing to your favorite music streaming service. That’s why we’ve made all of Mixpanel’s plans available for purchase online with our pricing clearly listed on our website. This removes the friction of customers having to schedule a call with a sales rep, negotiating on price, and the many other steps that completing a B2B software purchase typically entails. Our goal has always been to deliver a better customer experience and with this change, we now deliver one fair and predictable price to everyone.
When I was in my 20s and had just moved to NYC, I was in the market to buy my first new mattress. I walked into a store where I was given an $850 price for the mattress I was considering. That was too much money for me, so I decided to leave. Then the store manager called after me, more than halving the price to $350. At that moment, I lost trust in the store and the manager. I no longer even trusted the mattress, which seemed like a quality deal before the manager made me question it. Back then, mattresses were one of the few consumer categories that had yet to be disrupted by the e-commerce boom. Buying a mattress was like buying a used car – you never knew what kind of deal you were going to get and even after the purchase, you were left wondering if you had been taken advantage of.
It’s hard to believe but with a handful of exceptions, B2B SaaS companies continue to operate with minimal price transparency. Similar to buying a mattress or a used car in the 90s, the price of a SaaS product can feel like it’s shrouded in mystery. The sales process feels like you’re unclear about the deal you’re getting with a heavy focus on negotiation. At Mixpanel, we’ve been there before – we’re also customers of other SaaS products. To put it bluntly, it wastes a lot of time and it’s hard to build trust when you don’t know if you’re getting a fair deal.
