The best pricing strategy is clarity: who is this for, and what problem does it solve?

The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.

That quote is usually used to talk about business strategy. But it’s also one of the best ways to think about pricing digital products. Because pricing is strategy. If you price low, you’re usually signaling lower value and/or trying to make it up with volume. If you price high, you’re signaling exclusivity (and often a more complete promise).

Remember that strategy is also focus. Most creators don’t struggle with pricing because they can’t pick the perfect number. They struggle because they’re trying to price something that isn’t clearly defined yet, something that solves “a bunch of problems,” for “a bunch of people,” in “a bunch of situations.” And if you try to price something for everyone, the only safe price is low.

That’s why the best pricing strategy is clarity. Not a trick. Not a discount. Not a tier system. Just a clear answer to two questions your buyer is silently asking the moment they land on your page: Who is this for? and What problem does it solve? When those answers are sharp, your price starts to make sense. When they’re vague, your price feels random. And nothing makes a buyer hesitate like randomness. So here’s a set of lessons creators learn after a few launches, a few discounts that don’t move the needle, and a few moments where they realize the real issue wasn’t the price: it was the offer, and how it was communicated.

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Why most pricing advice doesn’t work

The internet teaches pricing like it’s a formula. Creators open a spreadsheet, scan what competitors charge, and start experimenting. €19 or €29? One-time payment or subscription? Should there be three tiers? Should there be a bundle? Should there be a launch discount? Sometimes those tactics work, especially when the offer is already clear. Other times, the strategy is to underprice at launch, gather feedback and social proof, then raise prices and reinvest the proceeds to grow the audience: but these tactics don’t fix a foggy offer. If you can’t sell, tweaking pricing is futile, because buyers don’t buy when they’re unsure. They don’t argue with you, they don’t negotiate, and they rarely ask for clarification. In fact, they do something far more dangerous: they leave. And once they leave, it’s hard to convince them to take a second look.

That’s why most pricing problems aren’t pricing problems. They’re clarity problems. If your page doesn’t answer “is this for me?” within a few seconds, the buyer bounces. Then you think the price is too high, and you discount, attracting the wrong customers. Then you feel even more confused!

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What you’re really pricing (hint: it’s not the product)

Buyers don’t pay for formats. They don’t pay for “a template.” They don’t pay for “a course.” They don’t pay for “a Notion dashboard.” They don’t pay for “a pack of files.” They pay for progress toward a transformation. They pay to save time, reduce stress, avoid mistakes, move faster, feel confident, feel in control, stop feeling behind. This is why two products can look similar on paper and sell at completely different prices and have completely different traction. One is selling content. The other is selling a solved problem. And when you’re selling a solved problem, pricing becomes less fragile. Because the buyer can finally connect the dots between what they’re paying and what they’re getting. They’re not paying for your work: they’re paying for an outcome.

And if you want to diagnose a pricing issue in five seconds, do this: imagine removing the price from your page. If the price disappeared, would someone still want it? Would they still think, “That’s me. I need that.” Would they write you? If the offer collapses without the number, it means you’re not selling a clear outcome. The buyer is reacting to pricing because they don’t have enough clarity to react to value. Creators often fix this the wrong way. They lower the price, hoping it will compensate. Or they add complexity, hoping multiple tiers will catch different buyers. But when clarity is missing, more options don’t help.

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Why specificity creates pricing power

In practice, the creators who can charge more are not the ones who work harder. They’re the ones who are clearer. A generic product competes with free information. A specific product competes with frustration. And frustration is expensive. It’s expensive in time wasted. It’s expensive in missed opportunities. It’s expensive in repeated mistakes. It’s expensive in stress. So when your offer is specific, you’re not competing with the internet or with your competitors. You’re competing with the buyer’s current pain.

And that’s where pricing power comes from. Not from a fancy landing page, not from a longer course (why would longer be better?), not from adding more pages to the PDF: it comes from making a buyer feel understood. If someone can say, “Wow, this person really gets my problem,” they’ll be much more willing to pay. Let the story guide to the promised transformation, and the transformation guide to the purchase. And before you change your price, write the line that forces you to choose. Write it plainly, without hype, without fancy words:

This is for [specific person]. It helps you [solve specific problem]. So you can [reach specific outcome].

If you can’t write that sentence, pricing will always feel like guesswork. You’ll always wonder if you’re charging too much or too little. You’ll always feel tempted to discount to boost sales. But if you can write it, you’ve just done something powerful: you’ve made a strategic decision. You’ve chosen who you’re for, you’ve chosen what problem you solve, you’ve chosen what you’re not doing. That’s the strategic foundation of strong pricing.

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Why discounts don’t fix unclear positioning

Discounts aren’t bad or else we wouldn't have built such an in-depth coupon feature for promotions! But they have one job: they help someone who already wants the product act faster, creating urgency, but they don’t create desire. So when creators discount a foggy offer, what they’re really doing is trying to use urgency to replace clarity. And it doesn’t work. At best, it produces random sales, at worst, it trains your audience to wait.

And it adds a second layer of confusion: if you weren’t sure what the product was worth before, now you’ve made the buyer even less sure. That’s why clarity should come before any pricing tactic. And clarity isn’t only about converting more people. It’s about converting the right people. When your offer is clear, the right buyer reads it and feels pulled in. The wrong buyer reads it and thinks, “This isn’t for me.” That second reaction is good: a strong offer doesn’t try to convince everyone. It makes the right person feel like the product was made for them. And when that happens, pricing becomes less controversial. You’re no longer trying to “sell.” You’re simply presenting a clear solution to a clear problem.

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Conclusion

Start with focus. Start with strategy. Start by choosing what not to do. The best pricing strategy is clarity: be clear about who it’s for, be clear about what problem it solves, be clear about the outcome you deliver. Because when the buyer understands the offer, the price stops feeling like a risk. It starts feeling like the obvious next step.

And if you’re a creator who wants to monetize your digital audience with a clean storefront, a smooth checkout, and a storefront that converts, the next obvious step is building your business on Sherpo. Start now!