This is the right time for FinTech start-ups to take off due to the ever-decreasing costs in this sector. However, the market currently has many players. Acquiring customers initially requires you to give them a taste of your best products and services free of charge while keeping the avenue open for a premium version upgrade.
However, when customers are left with a multitude of choices and when they can get exactly what you are offering elsewhere, it’s pointless to wait around for them to upgrade or hope that they would make a purchase with you. Instead, you can target your products and services towards a niche market with more precise customer needs.
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FinTech start-ups formulating a pricing strategy need to first understand how a particular strategy will be accepted in a specific market.
Subscription-based pricing strategy
The subscription-based pricing strategy is a new trend in Fintech where you can offer your products and services for subscribing customers at a recurring monthly fee. Despite the risk involved in subscription price modelling, FinTech start-ups need to explore this increasingly popular strategy.
The subscription pricing strategy is beneficial for FinTech start-ups because customers may choose for a lower recurring subscription fee over an exorbitant one-time lump sum amount.
A good example for this is ‘Splitsub’, a Gurugram-based FinTech start-up offering subscription splitting services for OTT platforms.
The OTT market is huge and Splitsub partners with the biggest names in digital entertainment by offering to handle the payments of their partner’s customer base.
The ‘free’ pricing plan
The ‘free’ pricing strategy is a new trend in Fintech which a multitude of successful Indian Fintech start-ups have scaled up on. Offering consumers, a ‘free’ pricing plan alongside paid memberships is a sure shot way to make them flock to you.
For example., Paytm., India’s biggest FinTech company enables bank-to-bank transfers at 0% fees.
Talking about new Indian FinTech start-ups that are doing exceedingly well through a ‘free’ pricing plan; ‘Refren’, a Bengaluru-based FinTech company offers free invoicing services alongside a premium payments and expense management system. It has managed to receive angel funding in 2020 backed by high-profile investors including Paytm, and Shaadi.com founders and ‘The Collective’ VC Fund, among others.
What’s in it for me?
FinTech start-ups formulating a pricing strategy need to first understand how a particular strategy will be accepted in a specific market.
Offering a premium membership or pricing plan for FinTech customers is a brilliant strategy for FinTech start-ups although it may not seem so on the surface. This is because setting premium pricing reflects the value you can bring to customers who expect personalized services. On the other hand, a premium pricing model also encourages less affluent customers to sign up for your service as a free customer, thus helping you expand your customer base.
The free model may seem counterintuitive for FinTech start-ups who are trying to make profits right off the bat. On the other hand, asking for a high subscription fee may also not bring in the right numbers. But due to the low cost of setting up your FinTech start-up, it may just work in your favour.
