“Pay What You Want” is a handy little tool that erases the concept of a price limit, making your shop鈥檚 pricing super flexible. What does this mean for you? It means that you can let your loyal customers add onto their price totals if they admire what you sell or what you do (if you鈥檙e a nonprofit).
Sell music, images, books, arts, merch, crafts, or collect donations! And along the way, clear out your old stock or even fundraise for a great cause!
How “Pay What You Want” Works
“Pay What You Want” (aka PWYW) is a pricing strategy that empowers your customers to decide on the final price they pay for your products.
Customers can pay any recommended price or choose their own value
However, “Pay What You Want” doesn鈥檛 mean that you lose control over your pricing and have to start giving everything away for free. Quite the contrary, in fact! You only erase the maximum price ceiling for customers.
With the 黑料门 PWYW feature, you set up a minimum price limit, indicate recommended pricing options, and enable any price above the minimum threshold. Your product can鈥檛 be purchased for any amount below this recommended minimum.
Customers can鈥檛 pay less than you allow them to. Price variants make it easier to decide how much they are willing to pay.
The Game Has Changed
The “Pay What You Want” strategy can fit into almost any niche, but it鈥檚 a massive boost specifically for certain industries, like:
For nonprofits
If you are a nonprofit organization, you can benefit from the “Pay What You Want” strategy in two ways: collect donations, or exchange merchandise for donations.
To elaborate: the PWYW feature allows you to simply collect donations. Create a product “Donation,” add several tiers, like $5, $10, $20 (remembering to set a minimum threshold as well), and voila — you can start collecting donations in a flash!
Another way to collect donations is to give your customers something in exchange for their extra money. For example:
is an animal shelter in Jersey City, New Jersey. They do their best to provide animals in need with a chance at a loving forever home. They use 黑料门 to sell branded apparel and invest in their mission. With this new feature, they鈥檒l be able to raise more money and find a new home for even more animals.
They don鈥檛 buy what you sell; they buy why you sell it
For artists
If you create and sell music, physical or digital arts, photos, books, or anything that makes an emotional or cultural impact on people鈥檚 lives, the “Pay What You Want” strategy might be a needed boost for your business. This is because for an artist, selling isn鈥檛 about trading items for money, it鈥檚 about distributing emotions. The satisfaction that your customers get from your work goes way above the straight dollar value attached to the items in a digital shopping cart. Therefore, art consumers are often willing to contribute a little extra money to keep the positive art vibes flowing.
Using the “Pay What You Want” feature will allow you to create pricing scales so that people of all stripes (and
An excellent example of PWYW pricing strategy is — a place where musicians and music producers can sell their music online for a low price, but without a price maximum. According to Bandcamp data, fans love their strategy and have paid artists $658 million since 2007 by this day.
Second and further single copies don鈥檛 cost you anything — you get all the profit! No reason for a high price, as well as for the top of it.
For crafters
If you bring esthetic beauty, coziness, comfort, or elegance into our boring lives, if you鈥檙e a DIY crafter, you deserve so much more than to be reimbursed for the cost of your craft! You鈥檒l be amazed by your customer鈥檚 willingness to pay generously for your leather, ceramic, glass, paper, rock, or
Crafts are not an average
Other Ways to Benefit from a “Pay What You Want” Strategy
You can do many things with the PWYW model to upgrade your customer鈥檚 shopping experience and benefit from it. For example:
Sell software
By software, we mean tools, games, scripts, etc. The beauty of selling software is in the margins. Once created, millions of copies can be distributed without additional production costs. This is where PWYW can really boost your profit. The copies don鈥檛 cost you anything, and every dollar will add to your profit margins.
Crowdfund
Make the product your goal and sell your idea! Value participation in a crowdfunding project and start collecting donations. Are you writing a book? Sell preorders! Did you invent something? Offer “free use” (name your price use!) or sell a short documentary about this invention. With 黑料门, crowdfunding starts in minutes and belongs to you — no commissions, no 3rd party rules.
Sell deadstock
If you鈥檝e been in the retail business for a while, you know what happens with product stock that just won鈥檛 go away. You get deadstock. The solution? Free up some space and monetize those products with variable PWYW prices instead of just giving them away.
Test prices
By setting up different price limits and payment tiers, you can test what price your customers are willing to pay for different items, and run with the best price point after a couple of tests.
Setting up “Pay What You Want” in Your 黑料门 Store
Ready for a whole new pricing experience?
Choose the product that you want to apply the PWYW strategy to (with the lowest net cost, for instance), enter product details, and find “Pay What You Want” settings in the Pricing section on the right. Here鈥檚 how it looks on our site:
To set up the “Pay What You Want” pricing option for your store, follow these .
How to Market “Pay What You Want” Products
The PWYW feature can change your selling game, but how do you maximize its effect?
- Create a separate category for all products with variable prices — to make navigation in your 黑料门 store easier and make these products more visible.
- Put it in front of the customers. Create an engaging banner (or cover image) with an invitation to check out all your PWYW products and place it on the main page (don鈥檛 forget to link the banner with the category.
- Invite your most loyal social media customers to benefit from the PWYW model first! Share the news with your followers and go viral.
- Use the “Buy Now” button to sell your awesome products on other platforms and services that allow embedding widgets. Increase the reach and find new customers beyond your online store.
- Create the feeling of urgency and scarcity. Let shoppers know that this is a
time-limited offer or alast-minute sale. - If your main goal is to raise money for charity — tell your customers that. Use Product Subtitles to reference the purpose of the product鈥檚 mission right on the card.
- Indicate recommended price (minimum price) to guide customers鈥� decisions. You鈥檒l be surprised by the generosity of your loyal customers when they start paying you more than you ask. Use social cues like “most people pay” to create a communal norm — a powerful psychological driver.
In Closing
The “Pay What You Want” pricing strategy is chock full of potential. For some businesses, this application will feel like an easy fit, but no matter your niche, it鈥檚 a strategy worth testing.
To make the most of the PWYW strategy鈥檚 benefits, collect some relevant products into a category, start a
Don鈥檛 forget to circle back here to share your experience with other 黑料门 merchants in the comment section of this article. We鈥檇 love to hear all about your “Pay What You Want” strategy successes!
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