A Value-based Pricing Perspective on

Value Communication

Gerald E. Smith
Department of Marketing
Carroll School of Management
Fulton Hall 450
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467
617-552-0427
gerald.smith@bc.edu
John E. Hogan
Strategic Pricing Group, a member of Monitor Group
880 Winter Street
Waltham, Massachusetts 02451
(617) 252-2720
jhogan@spgconsulting.com
Thomas T. Nagle
Strategic Pricing Group, a member of Monitor Group
880 Winter Street
Waltham, Massachusetts 02451
(617) 252-2720
tnagle@spgconsulting.com

A Value-based Pricing Perspective on

Value Communication

This paper studies value communication from the perspective of value appropriation,
proposed by Mizik and Jacobson (2003) and others, and value-based pricing. A central tenet of
value-based pricing is that the firm must communicate to customers the value of the benefits they
receive. But the type of value communication may vary, depending on the buyer and nature of
the buying situation. We present a framework for value communication based on the marginal
cost of search and the type of benefits sought: economic or psychological. The framework
suggests that different types of value communication strategies should be more effective for
different types of buyer situations.

In a recent article Mizik and Jacobson (2003) distinguish between two key value-related
activities firms engage in: value creation and value appropriation. Value creation includes
activities your firm engages in to create value for the customer, especially new product
innovation. Value appropriation includes activities that your firm engages in to capture back
some of the value created for example using price. In this perspective advertising is viewed as
an extension of value appropriation that enables the firm to extend the length of time it can earn
economic rents from innovation and value creation. For the past several decades value-based
pricing has represented the essence of this view of creating value for customers, and then
capturing back some of the value you create. Value-based pricing focuses on the worth of the
savings, gains, and benefits customers realize as a result of using your product or service (Nagle
and Hogan forthcoming; Forbis and Mehta 1981).
Value-based pricing will fail unless customers actually perceive the value that you create
and are asking them to pay for. While most marketers recognize the truth of this statement for
new, innovative products, it is often disregarded for established products. Many firms survey
customers, or have sales reps ask customers what they are willing to pay, on the assumption that
customers know the value of what they buy. But why should they? Unless your product
represents a large expenditure for a customer and has benefits that are easily measured, the cost
to them of collecting the information necessary to make an informed decision probably exceeds
the gain. A common myth underlying much customer research for pricing is that customers
know the value of what they buy, which they will tell you if you ask them the right way. In fact,
customers are generally ill informed about the value of items they buy unless the seller
proactively educates and communicates value to them.
In this paper we present a framework that suggests how to effectively communicate value
to customers. We come at this topic from a pricing and value appropriation perspective, rather
than from a traditional marketing communication perspective. Researchers have built an
extensive base of communication theory, empirical evidence, and measures of attitudinal
processes and effects awareness, knowledge, preference, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors (see
Rossiter and Percy 1997 for a summary). But value-based pricing considers value
communication from the opposite direction: By translating customer benefits into monetary
value and communicating these savings and gains to customers, value-based pricing facilitates
customer decision judgments of whether the price they pay is worth the value they receive.
There is good reason to approach value communication from this appropriation
perspective. Buyers who are ignorant of the monetary value of a firms product and service
differentiation generally underestimate it. The most differentiated and highest quality suppliers
are vulnerable to competitors who can offer a precisely quantified price advantage in return for
forgoing qualitative advantages that seem simply nice to have. The purpose of value
communicationinvolving advertising, personal sales, programs to induce trial, endorsements,
and guarantees that communicate confidence in the promises made---is to raise uninformed
buyers willingness-to-pay to a level comparable to that of better informed and experienced
buyers.

When Value Communication Matters

Reuter (1986) and Wind (1990) define value in terms of value in use, which is driven by
product performance. Shapiro and Jackson (1978) and Forbis and Mehta (1981) conceptualize
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value in relative terms, as the maximum amount a customer should be willing to pay, assuming
full information about the product and competitive offerings. Anderson, Jain, and Chintagunta
(1993) define value in business markets as the perceived worth in monetary units of the set of
economic, technical, service, and social benefits received by a customer firm in exchange for the
price paid for a product offering, taking into consideration the available alternative suppliers
offerings and prices (p. 5). We adopt this perspective that value is perceived by buyers, and
usually is not equivalent to the actual value that buyers may in fact receive. The point of value
communication is to narrow this gap between perceived and actual value.
Value communication works to the extent that your product or service creates value that
is not otherwise obvious to potential buyers but is nevertheless important to them. There are
many reasons why your value might not be obvious. The less experience a customer has in a
market, the more innovative a products benefits, and the more separated the purchaser is from
the actual user; the more likely it is that the value of product or service differentiation will be
unrecognized or underappreciated. For example, without a planned communication from the
seller, a business buyer may not have considered that your nearby distribution location and
resulting short time to delivery, could reduce or eliminate the need to hold inventories.
Moreover, if the buyer is unsophisticated, he may not have recognized the high cost of holding
inventories for your technology product for which industry prices decline on average by 15% per
year. In this case, explaining how quick delivery could reduce inventory costs by more than your
price premium could motivate a purchase that would not otherwise have seemed prudent. .
Still, even a well-documented case for the value of your differentiation will not have an
effect unless the buyers are motivated to listen. Value communication is effective to the extent
that buyers see the price as economically important.1 The price is economically important when
the buyer is committed to getting a good deal or the most for my money as opposed simply
to making a purchase that meets the need. There are five reasons why people often make
purchases without a strong motivation to minimize cost of meeting their need.

The Expenditure EffectSome expenditures are just too small to justify serious thought
or effort to find the economically best deal, rather than simply to find a brand that meets
the need. In business markets, they are purchases too small to justify a purchasing
agents time. In consumer markets, they are called impulse purchases.

The Shared Cost Effect---Some expenditures involve spending other peoples money, in
whole or in part. So long as travel expenses are within a business persons expense
budget, for example, there is not much incentive to look for the best deal.

The Switching Cost EffectSome expenditures involve making a supplier-specific

investment before being able to gain maximum value. A business might have to train its
employees on the use of a particular software package. A consumer might have to
educate her lawyer, child-care provider, and hairdresser on her needs and expectations
before they can fully meet her needs. Unless these customers get some indication that a
price difference between brands exceeds this hurdle, they will repeat buy from the same
supplier without evaluating other brands.

The End-Benefit EffectSome expenditures are simply a small part of a total package of
expenditures to achieve an end-benefit. Consumers often pay little attention to the cost of
accessories when buying a car, since the cost seems small in the context of a larger
expenditure. The effect is not simply economic, but psychologically embedded in most
people2. Consider how you would feel if, after celebrating a very special occasion for
you, your spouse paid the restaurant tab with a two-for-one coupon. While the
economists among us would be proud, most others would feel that getting a good deal
distracted from the occasion.

The Price Quality Effect---Some expenditures have more perceived value because they
are expensive. One would be hard-pressed to argue that Rolls Royce, with a price over
$200,000, offers a value superior to that of luxury cars costing much less. Its parts are
less uniform, and the cost of maintenance is very high because a Rolls is handmade. The
problems with the Rolls are the ones that mass production was meant to solve: problems
of consistency and cost. But Rolls buyers do not purchase the car for cost-effective
transportation any more than they buy Patek Philippe watches to accurately tell time (a
digital watch does a better job). They buy these items to communicate to others that they
can afford them.

Still, in most product categories, getting a good deal is at least to some degree an
important motivation. Consequently, it is usually possible and often cost-effective to
influence customers willingness-to-pay through a systematic strategy. There are four
potential goals of that strategy, one or all of which may be important to raise willingness-topay for your product or service. They are
1. to help customers establish an appropriate reference value against which to measure
your product, unless there is a direct substitute for your product with a price that
establishes the reference.
2. to help customers recognize your differentiation on attributes that are not readily
observable, unless yours is an established brand about which the market has learned from
experience.
3. to make salient potential benefits of your differentiation that translate into high value for
the customer. Established brands focus the customer on the loss they could suffer (e.g.,
social humiliation) by relying on a cheaper substitute. Differentiated newcomers focus
customers on the added benefits they could receive (e.g., prestige) over and above what
they get from their current supplier.
4. to justify that the share of value captured in your price is fair, assuming that you are in
the type of market environment (defined below) where fairness issues arise.
The first three involve value communication, the latter involves price communication. Well
address the first three in turn.

Value Communication
Ultimately, the objective of value communication is to raise customers willingness to
pay for the value they receive. To develop a value communication strategy, you first need to
identify where in the buying process you intend to influence value perception. Perhaps you are
trying to get customers to recognize that they have a need large enough to justify making a
purchase. Or you may believe that there is plenty of primary demand (people intending to
purchase) but that you need to increase your share of that demand. If you already have share in a
repeat purchase market but are fighting off the threat of competition, you want to influence
perceptions of the task of trying an unknown, unproven supplier. Imagining where in the buying
process you are trying to influence customers enables you to define what alternatives a customer
is likely to be considering, how knowledgeable they are already likely to be about your brand
and product category, and what you offer, if anything, that differentiates you positively or
negatively from those alternatives.
The differentiation that distinguishes your offering is what can drive value perceptions
and price for your offering if you can influence how customers understand it. The tactics you
will use to influence them depends on two things: the relative cost of search for those
differentiating attributes by your target customers and the type of benefits sought: economic or
psychological. These define the 2x2 matrix shown in Exhibit 5-1.
[INSERT EXHIBIT 5-1 HERE]
The relative cost of search is the cost (financial and non-financial) for a customer to
determine the features and performance differences across brands relative to that customers
expenditure in the category (Stigler 1961; Nelson 1970). Multiple factors drive the relative cost
of search.
Searchability-- Differences across brands of some goods are easy to determine before purchase.
Such goods are called search goods because buyers can search thru information about the
products and services to draw accurate conclusions prior to purchase about their differentiating
attribute. Examples of obvious search goods are commodity chemicals, office furniture,
internet service providers, and home equity loans. In contrast, Experience goods have
differentiating attributes that are more difficult to evaluate across brands, requiring a substantial
commitment to purchase and use before being able to evaluate their performance. Examples of
experience goods include most services, such as management consulting, auto repair and
package delivery, as well as some products, such as pharmaceuticals, batteries, and home
appliances. Some products are complex hybrids with both search and experience attributes, such
as automobiles.
TrialabilityHow easy is it to purchase and use a small amount of a brand and infer
performance from that. Experience goods that one can try without making a full purchase
commitment can have a cost of search as low as that of search goods. Ski shops will rent, for a
reasonable daily fee, various brands of high performance skis that one can try for a day. You
can purchase a small can of paint and try it before you buy enough to paint an entire house. You
can buy one bottle each of different brands of spaghetti sauce before selecting a favorite for
weekly purchase.
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Customer SophisticationWhat is an experience good for most customers can be a search good
for others. A technophile can read the feature specifications for a personal computer and quickly
make an inference regarding how it will perform in various tasks, from word processing to
computer games. A more typical buyer would actually need to try different brands with the same
software to make the same inferences. As a result, the less sophisticated buyer might avoid
search by buying a brand name or relying on the advice of someone more expert.
Total ExpenditureThe larger a customers expenditure within a category, other things equal,
the lower the relative cost of search. The cost of search is high for an individual buying an
automobile because so much of the cars performance cannot be determined prior to purchase.
However, for a fleet buyer planning to purchase 2,000 cars, the cost to evaluate different brands
extensively, including buying one of each and trying it for a month, is not prohibitive.
In addition to the relative cost of search, the choice of an appropriate value
communication tactic also depends on the type of benefits buyers seek from the purchase. Many
purchases are motivated primarily by economic benefits, such as reduced cost, a better return on
investment, increased productivity, or fewer breakdowns that translate readily into gains or
savings of time or money. Tradespersons buy tools such as drills, power saws, planers, and nail
guns primarily to enhance their productivity. The benefits are well suited to concrete
performance measurements, such as nails-driven-per-minute or injuries avoided per user.
Moreover, those benefits translate directly into quantifiable differential value, such as revenue
gains from jobs completed faster and costs avoided from fewer injuries. Similarly, consumers
often select among brands based on the economic benefit: when buying term life insurance,
longer-lasting light bulbs, or purely functional items of clothing.
For other purchases, especially consumer products, buyers are less often motivated by
economic benefits than by psychological benefits such as comfort, appearance, pleasure, status,
health, or personal fulfillment. These benefits do not translate objectively into economic value,
but depend upon each buyers subjective assessment of value. For example, while it is possible
to describe quite objectively the features of a wedding gown, and even to observe them prior to
purchase, it is impossible to say objectively what those features should be worth to an individual
buyereven if you knew all of that buyers relevant demographic information and the prices of
the alternatives being considered. What drives that subjective valuation is the buyers personal
end benefit of the purchase and importance placed on that benefit. Is the buyer trying to impress
all his business colleagues who will be invited to the wedding, to communicate his feelings for
his daughter by indulging her every desire, or trying not to appear ostentatious?
[INSERT EXHIBIT 5-2 HERE]).
Exhibit 5.2 illustrates the four different value communication challenges, based on the
relative cost of search for the segment you want to influence and the types of differentiating
benefits (economic or psychological) that differentiate your product or service. For each
quadrant, there are different means to achieve the most favorable value perception. We will
discuss and illustrate each quadrant in turn.

Strategy 1: Economic Value Communication

When it is relatively easy to judge differences in brands prior to purchase, and the
benefits that buyers seek are primarily economic, the most effective value communication
strategy is to communicate differential economic value quantitatively. Economic Value
Estimation (EVE), discussed in Chapter 3, describes conceptually the process of creating such a
communication. The form of the communication depends on the diversity among customers in
the benefits sought and value delivered.
When customers are fairly homogeneous, at least within a few broad segments, then the
value communication can be standardized and communicated in advertising and sales collateral
materials. Marriott focuses its sales efforts for time share condominiums on customers who are
already at a resort location and experiencing its differentiation hence for these customers the
relative cost of search is low. Its web site and sales materials (see Exhibit 5-3) compare the
economics of ownership for a Marriott timeshare versus renting a hotel room at the same
destination.
[INSERT EXHIBIT 5-3 ABOUT HERE.]
The nearby ad for Reliable Software (see Exhibit 5-4) provides estimates of the
differences in performance for key benefits common to software developers software quality,
developer productivity, testing time, development cycles. These component differentials then
lead to an overall estimate of their total impact on value a 1,400 percent increase in return on
investment. Exhibit 5-5 shows an advertisement from Kinkos directly comparing the price of
Kinkos new DocStore service with the cost savings of not having to print and warehouse
documents on your own, a web-based service that is particularly valuable to small and mediumsized businesses with small runs of catalogs, selling sheets, and marketing brochures.
[INSERT EXHIBIT 5-4 ABOUT HERE]
[INSERT EXHIBIT 5-5 ABOUT HERE]
When customers are more diverse, the quantitative value communication needs to be
customized by application. International Truck, a leading manufacturer of commercial and longhaul tractor-trucks, sells trucks to buyers for multiple applications that lead them to seek
different benefits. Consequently, International created value selling sheets for virtually every
competitive comparison resulting in a large book and computer database of value-based
comparisons. Exhibit 5-6 shows a value selling sheet for a comparison of Internationals versus
Freightliners municipal dump/plow trucks. Specific potential savings are documented for
several benefit-related value drivers greater resale value, PM (procedural maintenance)
savings, repairability, and less frequent engine rebuilds. These quantified value estimates are
supported by additional benefit dimensions not quantified, such as greater windshield visibility,
less wiring, a roomier cab, and greater maneuverability and handling.
[INSERT EXHIBIT 5-6 ABOUT HERE]
In markets where the value drivers are highly variable across customers, but sales involve
direct person-to-person communication; companies can arm their sales representatives with
8

customizable value models. The sales rep can input basic data about the buying firm, its use of
the product or service, and about the cost of their alternatives. The model uses that to estimate
the cost savings and/or revenue gains that the customer could enjoy from purchasing the product.
Exhibit 5-7 shows an example of a customizable value selling tool for a computer
network service company. This company sells an automated help desk system that increases the
quality and efficiency of detecting, managing, and solving computer network outages. This value
selling tool allows a sales representative to input customer-specific data that leads to a bottomline estimate of incremental value that could be received by this customer from the companys
differentiation.
[INSERT EXHIBIT 5-7 HERE]
Fortunately, such models can be very valuable even when the seller has only rough
guesses about the actual customer numbers, so long as the structure of the model accurately
reflects the customers economics. Buyers frequently question the sales reps assumptions about
their costs and revenues. That is not an undesirable result, since it initiates a discussion about the
customers actual economics, bringing information into the discussion that otherwise would not
be revealed, and focusing the discussion on the value the seller delivers. More importantly, it
brings information to the attention of a purchasing department that it otherwise has little
motivation to consider. Our clients have frequently reported that, after a purchasing agent has
initially dismissed the sales reps analysis of value, someone else from operations or finance
calls to request a meeting to further review it. That is the best result that a seller has a right to
expect: a fair hearing from those who actually recognize and care about the value delivered.

Strategy 2: Economic Value Assurance

When the cost to ascertain the differences among brands exceeds the benefits for a target
segment, economic value communication alone is unlikely to be sufficient and may be
impractical. It is great to tell buyers that a product that could double productivity would be
worth a large price premium, but that may not motivate a purchase if they cannot determine
before purchase that your product or service can actually enable them to achieve such a gain. In
fact, documenting a connection between features and long-term benefits, such as the
effectiveness of drug therapy or the durability of a car, may be prohibitive even for the seller
until the product has been on the market for years.
Studies have shown that when customers cannot directly evaluate a brands performance,
they will respond positively to narrative, experiential, or anecdotal information.3 Such
communications familiarize buyers with the benefits and then simply reassure them indirectly
that your product or service probably delivers differential value that more than justifies its price
premium. Such an economic value assurance strategy involves testimonials from credible
experts, opinion leader endorsements from known and trusted sources, and claims of superior
market share or repeat purchase frequency coupled with frequent mentions and connections to
your brand name.
For example, for years sellers of premium batteries have made the economic argument
that their batteries last longer, thus justifying their premium prices. However, that claim is
difficult for most buyers to verify; instead simple assurance strategies that the battery indeed
9

delivers greater differential value should be more effective. Duracell introduced an ad campaign
designed to credibly communicate differential value rather than merely counter-attack its
archrivals simple repetition that Eveready keeps going and going. The ads (one version
shown in Exhibit 5-8) report that Duracell is the battery brand chosen when human life and space
missions depend on long life and reliability. Even without any direct performance data, the fact
that thoughtful buyers with big benefits at stake (like hospitals) have chosen Duracell reassures
buyers that it is probably a better choice.
[INSERT EXHIBIT 5-8 HERE]
Even in business markets, an endorsement can be nearly as powerful as hard data.
Opinion leaders are those whose lower cost of search leads them to make what others see as
more informed decisions. In medical products markets, Kaiser Permanente, an HMO on the
West Coast of the United States, has a reputation for being a well-informed buyer of the most
cost-effective medical products. The company often conducts its own trials of drugs and devices
and will not buy a more expensive product without economic justification. Consequently, many
other hospitals and HMOs who learn that Kaiser Permanente has adopted a more expensive
product or service will assume that its price premium is cost justified.
Multiple testimonials from satisfied customers, even when they are not opinion leaders,
can also reassure those attempting to make a purchase decision involving objective economic
benefits. To counter the threat from lower cost Linux operating systems, Microsoft
commissioned independent consultants to develop Customer Case Studies, each a video clip
from a chief information officer or other systems professional. Each explained why, after
considerable study, they decided to remain with the Microsoft Windows platform, despite its
higher price. Microsoft reinforced these testimonials with White Papers showing how the total
lifetime cost of an open-source operating system could exceed the costs for a comparable
Windows operating system, despite saving the upfront purchase costs for Windows.

Strategy 3: Psychological End-benefit Framing

When customers are motivated by psychological benefits such as comfort, pleasure,
safety, security, status, companionship, adventure, or fulfillment, it is not possible to define
economic value objectively. Even when a low relative cost of search enables customers to
recognize differences in product or service features, the psychological value they associate with
those features will be subjective. The key to influencing perceived value for such products is to
help buyers make connections between the differentiating features they recognize and the
possible psychological benefits they could gain.
One of the most effective ways to do this is by reframing the way the customer views the
product or service differentiation, not in terms of the products immediate attribute performance
(a this razor will give you a closer shave) but in terms of a possible end-benefit (the shave this
razor gives you will make you more attractive for an evening out with your date.) Hart
Shraffner & Marx ran a campaign showing elegantly dressed business executives with the
message: The right suit might not help you achieve success, but the wrong suit could limit your
chances.

10

The key to successful end-benefit framing is picking the most valuable end-benefit that
you can credibly associate with your product for each target market segment. For decades,
Michelin, the French tire company, had positioned its tires to appeal to men based on superior
performance. Recognizing the demographic trend of baby-boomers starting families with more
joint decision-making, Michelin adroitly leveraged its tires reputation for performance by
associating it with a new end benefit: the safety of ones family, with the tagline Theres a lot
riding on your tires. (See Exhibit 5-9.) Moreover, Michelins marketing gradually included
more women as tire decision-makers, culminating in its 1998 Baby Shower commercial in
which an expectant mother receives four Michelin tires as a baby shower gift. This value
repositioning proved to be one of the most successful in history, winning Michelin a consistent
price premium.4
[INSERT EXHIBIT 5-9 HERE]
End-benefit framing often involves more than just associating an important end benefit
with your products differentiation. It may also involve influencing the value quantification of
that association. Unlike economic benefits, psychological benefits have no natural value
association. Consequently, what something should cost is often very fluid, particularly if it is
an infrequent purchase where past expenditure is no guide. Thus the seller of study aids to help
your child in school might point out that the cost is no more per day than what you spend for a
cup of coffee (and no doubt so much more valuable to you.) Woolite successfully argued that
the price of its soap is reasonable because it does the same job for pennies that a dry cleaner
would do for dollars.
While most end-benefit framing is focused on raising the value associated with positive
differentiation, a negatively differentiated brand can use the same techniques in reverse to
minimize the discount required to win sales. Why pay more? challenges the customer and the
competitors to justify their higher prices. Red Roof Inn, a basic, no-frills hotel chain, ran a
simple advertisement that asked Whats the value of all those amenities at the higher priced
hotels? At 3 a.m. its hard to tell. By framing the difference between Red Roof Inn and its
competitors in terms of features that lack much benefit for those who just want a good nights
sleep, Red Roof was able to position itself as a better value, not just a lower priced, alternative.

Strategy 4: Psychological End-Benefit Assurance

The most difficult challenge in value communication occurs when the benefits are
psychological and, therefore, subjective while the differences among brands are difficult for
customers to ascertain. Personal services (e.g., hair salons), personal experience products
(vacations) and personal improvement products (weight loss programs) are in this quadrant.
Because comparison is difficult, the risk for customers of making what turns out to be a
disappointing purchase decision is high. Consequently, buyers tend to rely heavily on even small
amounts of direct experience (trial), on endorsements from people with whom the buyers can
identify, and on their prior experience with a brand or brand name.

11

Whenever possible, the most effective way to influence value perceptions in this quadrant
is to subsidize trial. Health clubs offer free trial memberships. Suppliers of baby products pay
hospitals to give away samples of baby formula to new parents. New brands of food products
often spend significantly to induce trial, with coupons, trial sizes, and free samples in addition to
advertising. In addition, they communicate message content to raise buyer confidence that, when
they do experience the product, they will find the psychological value adequate to justify the
choice
One way to communicate confidence in a value that cannot be objectively proven is via
endorsements. While endorsements related to objective economic benefits rely on authorities,
endorsements for psychological benefits are effective when made by people with whom the
consumer can personally identify. Marketers of products in this category show real or
dramatized users who are happy with the results, enabling potential buyers to imagine
achieving the same result. Celebrity endorsers have value, not as experts, but as people with a
defined image to which a target segment could relate. Many successful self-improvement
products and services illustrate that success is possible even in this most challenging quadrant for
value communication. Bow flex exercise equipment (www.bowflex.com), Weight Watchers diet
programs (www.weightwatchers.com), and Hair Club hair replacement products
(www.hairclub.com) all use similar marketing techniques quite effectively. They show the
features of their products or services via videos and infomercials and then invite prospects to
browse large numbers of testimonials. Finally, each offers a guarantee, not just that the features
of their product will perform as represented, but that the customer will be satisfied with the
results.
The high cost of search for customers, and therefore the challenge in value
communication for sellers, gives known brands in this quadrant a large competitive advantage.
Upstart brands attack them with an economic argument: the promises of all the same features and
benefits at a lower price. To respond in economic terms, brand leaders would have to
acknowledge their rivals, giving them more publicity, and would have to quantify the value of
their superiority, which would be difficult given the uncertainty about the new competitors
performance. A brand leaders advantage lies in customers satisfactory prior experience and
resulting reputation. Until experienced, a new brand offers only a promise to perform as well
which cannot be tested until purchased and tried. Consequently, established brands can recast
the purchase in terms of the psychological value of avoiding a mistake. For example, Federal
Express ads show hapless employees that fear losing their job because they didnt use Federal
Express and were blamed when a package did not arrive.
To select from among these four generic value communication strategies, consider two
additional factors: your target segments and the features that differentiate your product or
service. When appealing to experienced buyers in a category who can easily make judgments
about performance, or when appealing to large purchasers who will invest in trial purchases to
make those judgments, strategies along the left side of Exhibit 5.2 for low relative cost of search
are appropriate. Moreover, the features you would focus on would be those that differentiate
your brand from others. In the same market, however, you may try to convince novice buyers,
with little ability to infer brand performance, to enter the category. For them, you will use
strategies in the right-hand column to provide assurances of use value. As a result, you may
communicate benefits that motivate the decision to make a purchase from the category, even if
12

you are not differentiated in delivering them. Such a strategy definitely makes sense if there is
some other reason for the buyer to pick your brand from a set of substitutes, such as an affinity
group (e.g., Harley-Davidson motorcycle clubs, or recreational vehicle [RV] groups), or your
large share (its the leading brand so it must be good).
To illustrate different tactics for different segments, think of ads you have seen for
international air travel Airlines appeal to experienced business travelers by describing their
feature differences (fully reclining seats, showers at destination, gourmet meals) and the resulting
benefits (arrive rested and ready for work). They appeal to pleasure travelers by comparing the
psychological end benefits of the destination with the price.
You may need to communicate both economic and psychological benefits for the same
product to the same customers. Buyers of a hybrid car may well be motivated by feeling
virtuous about their responsible use of the environment, a psychological benefit that the company
could communicate by reporting the cars lower pollution levels while showing it being driven in
an unspoiled vista. However, the premium buyers will pay for a hybrid car also depends on how
much money they expect to save from improved gas mileage, an economic benefit that the
company could communicate by reporting a table showing fuel cost savings based on someones
annual mileage driven. Finally, customers also may be wary of the possible adverse affect of
new technology on reliability (a negative economic benefit), making testimonials from existing
owners or independent experts, like J.D. Powers, a valuable part of the communication.
Often, a value communication strategy involves using different tactics to deal with
different types and benefits and customer constituencies. Such complexity is common in the
market for medical products. In mid-2003, Johnson & Johnson had to justify a substantial price
premium for is new unique drug-coated coronary stent, which is used to keep clogged arteries
open. J&J priced its stent, at $3,500 250 percent higher than traditional uncoated stents and
well in excess of the drug used to coat the stent. This aggressive pricing aroused buyers and
reporters to make claims of price gouging, thus challenging J&J to reconcile the value of the new
product with its price. J&J did so by feeding payers, customers, and reporters the economic facts.
A stent implantation surgery costs over $30,000, including the cost of the stent. But in 20 percent
of cases, an uncoated stent reclogs in less than a year, requiring a repeat of the procedureat
another $30,000 cost. With J&Js new drug-eluting stent, whose pharmaceutical coating reduced
the likelihood that an artery would reclog, the repeat rate fell to approximately 5 percent. Thus,
the objective differentiation value from the lower rejection rate was $4,500 the 15 percent
rejection rate difference multiplied by the cost of a second surgical procedure. In addition, the
psychological value to patients of avoiding the risk and discomfort of a repeat procedure was
substantial, a fact that J&J emphasized in communications with the public press. This
combination of economic and psychological justification enabled J&J not only to win a higher
reimbursement from payers when surgeons used its drug-eluting stent, but also to defuse the
initial hostility and resistance to its price.

Summary
How customers respond to your pricing is determined by more than the product you offer
and the price you charge. It is also determined by how they evaluate your product and your
price. If you leave that evaluation to chance, you are likely to get paid much less or to sell much
13

less than you could. Most customers lack the time or the incentive to fully inform themselves
about their alternatives and to evaluate the information they do have. If you want them to
recognize your value, you have to make the process easier for them by supplying them with
information about what you offer and ideas about how to evaluate that information.

14

References
Anderson, James C., Dipak C. Jain, and Pradeep K. Chintagunta (1993), Customer Value
Assessment in Business Markets: A State of Practice Study, Journal of Business-to-Business
Marketing (1): 3-30.
Forbis, John L. and Nitin T. Mehta (1981), "Value-based Strategies for Industrial Products,"
Business Horizons 24, #3 (May-June), 32-42.
Mizik, Natalie and Robert Jacobson (2003), Trading Off Between Value Creation and Value
Appropriation: The Financial Implications of Shifts in Strategic Emphasis, Journal of
Marketing 67 (January), 63-76.
Nagle, Thomas T. and John E. Hogan (forthcoming), The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A
Guide to Profitable Decision Making, Fourth Edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Nelson, Philip (1970), "Information and Consumer Behavior," Journal of Political Economy 78
(March/April), 311-29.
Reuter, Vincent G. (1986), What Good Are Value Analysis Programs, Business Horizons 29
(March-April): 73-79.
Rossiter, John R. and Larry Percy (1997). Advertising Communications and Promotion
Management. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Stigler, George (1961), "The Economics of Information," Journal of Political Economy 69, no. 3
(June), 213-25.
Shapiro, Benson P. and Barbara B. Jackson (1978), Industrial Pricing to Meet Customer
Needs, Harvard Business Review Nov-Dec: 119-127.
Wind, Yoram (1990), Getting a Read on Market-Defined Value, Journal of Pricing
Management 1 (Winter): 41-49.

15

Exhibit 5-1
Different Situations Require Different Value Communication Strategies

Relative Cost of Search

Low
Simple Search Goods

High
Complex Experience Goods
Management
Consulting
Investment
Advice

Type of Benefits

Economic Benefits

Commodity
Chemicals
Home
Equity
Loans

Hotels

Desktop
Computers

Antibiotics

Psychological Benefits

Auto
Repairs

Life
Insurance

SUVs
Sports
Cars

Blood College
Pressure
Education
Drugs
Weight Loss
Fitness
Plans
Equipment

Digital
Cameras
Cosmetics
Designer
Clothes

16

Exotic
Vacations

Exhibit 5-2
Framework of Value Communication Strategies

Relative Cost of Search

High
Complex Experience Goods

Strategy 1
Economic Value
Communication

Strategy 2
Economic Value
Assurance

Communicate Objective
Information That Differential
Economic Value
Justifies Pricing

Communicate Assurances That

Differential Economic Value
Justifies Pricing

Strategy 3
Psychological End-Benefit
Framing

Strategy 4
Psychological End-Benefit
Assurance

Associate Differential
Performance with Subjective
Psychological Value That
Justifies Pricing

Communicate
Assurances That Total
Psychological Value
Justifies Pricing

Psychological Benefits

Type of Benefits

Economic Benefits

Low
Simple Search Goods

17

Exhibit 5-3
Marriott Time Share Value Communication
http://www.vacationclub.com/en-us/ownership/exploreEconomic.jsp

18

Exhibit 5-4
Reliable Software Ad

19

Exhibit 5-5
Kinkos DocStore Ad

20

Exhibit 5-6
International Truck
Value Selling Sheets

21

Exhibit 5-7
Spreadsheet Value-Based Selling Tool

ENTER
AMOUNTS
HERE

Variable
ENTER these Inputs:
Help Desk and/or Customer Service
Total customers in impacted service area
Average no. of trouble calls per day - normal
Avg. no. of trouble calls per day - outage incident
Duration of outage or network congestion - days
Average call duration in minutes
Help Desk wages & benefits - hourly
Managment Time
No. Managers needed to resolve incident
Percent of Management time required
Managment loaded salary and benfits
Other Costs
Percent calls unresolved or receive bill credits
Average billing credit (1 month)
Percent impacted calls that are long distance
Avg. cost per minute for 800 calls to help desk
General
Number of users per port

4000
150
200
60
3.8
11.50

1
15%
75,000

$
$

50%
17.95
100%
0.07
10

Calculation:
Total ADDITIONAL manhours cust. service
Total cost for additional help desk & cust.
service labor required
Total cost for management time
Total billing credits
Total 800 call costs
Avg. cost per call (less mgt. expense)

$
$
$
$
$

2,185
1,875
26,925
798
9.97

TOTAL COST SAVINGS TO

CUSTOMER (per outage incident)

31,783

190

Estimated number PRI in impacted service area

COST SAVINGS PER PRI

17
$

22

1,870

Exhibit 5-8
Duracell Ad

23

Exhibit 5-9
Michelin Ad

24

FOOTNOTES

Other elements of marketing, such as channel availability, and other issues in pricing, such as pricing policies, are
still relevant even when the product is not economically important. Value communication, however, is not likely to
have an impact in those cases.
2

Richard Thaler, Toward a Positive Theory of Consumer Choice Journal of Economic Behavior and
Organization, 1 (1980), pp.39-40.
3

See Gerald E. Smith and Paul D. Berger (1996), The Impact of Direct Marketing Appeals on Charitable
Marketing Effectiveness, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 24 (Summer), no. 3, 219-231; and R.
M. Dawes, D. Faust, and P. E. Meehl (1989), Clinical versus Actuarial Judgment. Science, 243: 1668-1674.
4

Venkateshwar K. Reddy, Eric M. Olson, and Stanley F. Slater, When Marketing Efforts Go Flat, American
Marketing Association, www.marketingpower.com/content21161C5850S2; Michelin Baby Hoops it up in New
Advertising, press release dated April 17, 2001, www.michelin.com; Integrating Competition and Goal-Based
Positioning: The Value Equation, Northwestern University,
www.kellogg.nwu.edu/faculty/sterntha/htm/module3/5.]

25