I think the OP makes some very important points here. There's definitely a somewhat fixed mentality when it comes to SaaS pricing and it's easy to fall into the trap that you should be charging something akin to 37signals.
Pricing isn't actually something that's as easy to change as you'd believe either. It has huge implications on your actual product, your target market and sales strategy - as the OP points out.
Imagine you were suddenly told you had to charge 10x more for your product. You might initially think it would kill you but think about what that would change. Would it necessarily be a bad thing?
If you're anything like me, it's easy to assume everyone lives in a world where $10 for Spotify is a pretty big deal. My friends moan about that price for unlimited music. $200 a month seems huge to me for anything I'd buy. It's only recently I've fully started to appreciate just how much money enterprise clients willing drop on "simple" products that meet their needs.
I really think there is a lack of good advice on pricing and how alternative pricing strategies could be used to open up new markets for SaaS type businesses. Sure, you may need a slightly "less scalable" sales strategy but with increasing competition in the web-app marketplace, moving to a different customer base with more cash may well be worth a few sales phone calls.
"If you're anything like me, it's easy to assume everyone lives in a world where $10 for Spotify is a pretty big deal. My friends moan about that price for unlimited music. $200 a month seems huge to me for anything I'd buy. It's only recently I've fully started to appreciate just how much money enterprise clients willing drop on "simple" products that meet their needs."
For businesses those SaaS services are a core need. Leisure services like spotify are the wrong thing to compare prices to. Think about how much of your budget you spend on housing, food, transportation. $200 / month is peanuts for those kinds of things. That gives a better idea about what businesses are willing to spend on software they need for their core activities.
"It's only recently I've fully started to appreciate just how much money enterprise clients willing drop on "simple" products that meet their needs."
Not just enterprise clients - almost any business.
I run a tiny, cash-strapped film production company and do various bits of Internet Marketing stuff on the side. We're about the smallest entity you could imagine that can still be called a "company".
I'll cheerfully drop $100 or more per month on a service that will save me a day a month of work or increase profits on a project by 10% - because in both cases, I come out ahead.
Consumers are buying on "value", on gut feelings and emotion, and all sorts of other things. Businesses are buying on "will this make me more money than it costs?"
Pricing isn't actually something that's as easy to change as you'd believe either. It has huge implications on your actual product, your target market and sales strategy - as the OP points out.
Imagine you were suddenly told you had to charge 10x more for your product. You might initially think it would kill you but think about what that would change. Would it necessarily be a bad thing?
If you're anything like me, it's easy to assume everyone lives in a world where $10 for Spotify is a pretty big deal. My friends moan about that price for unlimited music. $200 a month seems huge to me for anything I'd buy. It's only recently I've fully started to appreciate just how much money enterprise clients willing drop on "simple" products that meet their needs.
I really think there is a lack of good advice on pricing and how alternative pricing strategies could be used to open up new markets for SaaS type businesses. Sure, you may need a slightly "less scalable" sales strategy but with increasing competition in the web-app marketplace, moving to a different customer base with more cash may well be worth a few sales phone calls.