It is easy to think of pricing as distinct from your service offering. However, pricing is key to your offering.

When pricing is performed incorrectly, multiple prices may be added together to calculate the total offering price in a cost-plus fashion. Strong pricing and packaging is distinguished by customer-segment-specific offerings that include compelling value-added services in the packages, tiered appropriately to the segment and competitive environment, and crafted with price-point sensitivity.

Rather than creating a comprehensive range of feature-centric offers, choose two or three well-defined packages and target the offer to a defined persona. If you understand who you are selling to, you will understand why they are buying and what matters to them. If you don't know, ask, and they'll tell you.

Choice = confusion. Too many offerings will lose most prospects. Prospects are seeking offers that address their needs and pain points simply and effectively, endless lists of features cannot do.

To provide an entry point, the hosting provider offers a free Business Email Light package, based on Exchange, offering a simple future upgrade path to full MAPI. Another option available to the standard package is an upgrade to full mobility.

By offering a single core package with clear added-value, and ancillary offerings around it, the hosting provider is clearly targeting a particular customer base, and increasing the chance of upgrade option sales.