Industry overview
What is shaping software
Software and SaaS companies live and die by product-market fit, pricing and retention. Users' real workflows matter more than feature lists.
- Product-led growth relies on fast time to value
- Pricing and packaging strongly affect conversion
- Churn often starts with onboarding
Client background
A project management software company, working in United Kingdom, Germany & France. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A project management software company
- Sector
- Software
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Quantitative research, Business panel, Financial modelling
Client challenge
The company’s pricing had grown complicated over time, with many add-ons and confusing tiers. Sales teams spent time explaining prices, and trial users often left at the pricing page. Leadership wanted a simpler structure that would not reduce revenue.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: redesigning pricing tiers for a project management tool.
- Understand the views, needs and behaviour of team leads.
- Produce results that can be compared across groups and locations.
- Give the client evidence it can act on within 8 weeks.
Target audience
The work focused on 1,200 team leads.
- team leads1,200
Audiences we typically reach in software
Trial and paying usersAdmins and buyersChurned customersProspectsPartners and integrators
Geographic coverage
Coverage: United Kingdom, Germany & France. Markets: United Kingdom, Germany and France.
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- France
Research methodology
A structured analytical design combining desk research, modelling and primary evidence.
- 1Brief
- 2Online survey with conjoint analysis
- 3Revenue simulation
- 4Insight
We surveyed team leads and software buyers in three countries, using a conjoint exercise in English, German and French to measure how they traded off features, user limits and prices. Our finance team simulated revenue and uptake for alternative tier designs using the results and the company’s customer data.
Quantitative researchBusiness panelFinancial modelling
Sampling strategy
- team leads
- 1,200
- Business respondents were screened on role, company size and involvement in the decision before being invited.
- Online respondents were drawn from verified panel members who matched the screening criteria, with quotas on key profile attributes.
Data collection
- The online survey was mobile-friendly and offered in respondents' languages.
- Secondary sources and client data were compiled and cross-checked before modelling.
Data quality & validation
- Digital fingerprinting and duplicate checks
- Attention, speed and straight-lining checks
- Review of open-ended answers
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
- Price and trade-off analysis
- Market model built from secondary data and primary evidence
Key findings
- Buyers valued integrations and reporting far more than storage limits, and preferred three simple tiers.
Simpler pricing removed friction without giving value away.
Recommendations
- The company launched a simplified structure, and early results showed more trials converting at the pricing page without revenue loss per customer.
- Share the findings with the teams closest to customers so they can act quickly.
What we recommended, and the client put into practice
Business impact
- Upgrade rates from the entry tier improved in the following quarters.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: where does the UX get in the way?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.