Outcomes-based pricing
Overview
The proposed experience followed existing patterns, but didn’t give users all the information they needed to make an informed decision. Patterns are important, but clarity is more important. I pushed the designers to be more clear about:
customer impact: what happens to their AI-powered service channels when overages are reached
cost: what cost implications come with each choice
Users can change this setting at any time, so I also thought it was important to make it easy to view their current usage or purchase more automated resolutions.
The final version provides a much better customer experience. It’s clear, scannable, and allows the user to take related actions of next steps. Even if the user isn’t much of a reader, the radio button subheadings provide much more information to indicate the impact of their choice.
Overview: With the rise of AI, Zendesk chose to monetize this new technology through resolution-based pricing rather than just usage. While this differentiated the company from competitors, it added complexity to communicating this pricing model to customers.
Role: I was a stakeholder and approver for this initiative, but quickly became very active in the weekly check-in group
While this project included end-to-end customer experience for introducing, adopting, and monitoring the new pricing model, I’ll be focusing on the Overages experiences.
Getting the messaging right
The first time I saw the proposed messaging flow in the user journey, major red flags started flying. The first time we planned to direct users to manage their overage limit settings was after they’d already reached their limits. This could have major service and cost implications for our users, so this needed to be changed.
I urged the team to consider including overage limit settings in multiple places:
As part of the process the first time an AI agent is set up
Included in new pricing communications
In the 80% and 100% usage warning emails or product notifications reminding them what their overage setting is currently set to and that they can change it at any time
User testing showed that these changes helped users feel more confident that they were set up to handle the new pricing changes.