willingness-to-pay-research

Skill: Willingness-to-Pay Research

A price with no WTP evidence is a guess wearing a number. This skill picks the research method, designs it with the right guards, and routes the significance read to applied-statistics.

Step 0 — Two guards that apply to every survey method

1. Stated WTP overstates real WTP. People say they'll pay more than they do. Discount survey numbers toward any behavioral data you have.
2. Ask the buyer, not just the user. In B2B the budget holder and the user are often different; a study that surveys only users mis-reads the budget.

Step 1 — Pick the method by the decision

Run ../../knowledge/pricing-decision-trees.md §3:

• Need a rough acceptable range, early & cheap? → Van Westendorp PSM (the four price-perception questions → acceptable range + too-cheap/too-expensive points). Returns a range, not a price.
• Picking a number once you have a band? → Gabor-Granger (purchase intent at set price points → demand + revenue curve).
• Question is about packaging / which features drive WTP? → Conjoint / MaxDiff (choice-based feature-price tradeoffs).
• Have live traffic and can experiment? → Live price A/B test — observed behavior beats every survey. Route significance to applied-statistics.

Step 2 — Design the instrument

• Sample frame: who qualifies, how you reach them, and whether they represent the target segment (not just whoever answers).
• Who to ask: buyers (budget) for the price decision; users for the value perception. Often both, segmented.
• Bias guards: avoid anchoring (don't lead with your preferred price), randomize price-point order, neutral framing.
• Sample size: size it for the precision you need — hand the power/sizing math to applied-statistics rather than guessing.

Step 3 — Run / spec and read

• Van Westendorp → report the acceptable range + the optimal-price-point indicators as a band and a sanity check, never as "the price."
• Gabor-Granger → plot demand and revenue curves; the revenue-maximizing point is a candidate, not a mandate (consider strategy, not just the curve peak).
• Conjoint → translate part-worths into which feature belongs in which tier (feed packaging-and-tiering).
• A/B test → report effect size + CI; route significance to applied-statistics.

Step 4 — Discount toward behavior & bound the claim

Apply the Step-0 discount. State the confidence the evidence supports — a 40-response Van Westendorp is a directional band, not a validated price.

Output

A study design (method + sample frame + who-to-ask + bias guards + sample size) or, if already run, the WTP band/curve with its confidence bound and the behavioral discount applied. Hand the actionable band to pricing-strategist; hand significance to applied-statistics.