Michael Mansard, Principal Director of Subscription Strategy at Zuora, joins Mark Stiving to challenge one of pricing's most accepted conventions: the order of good, better, best.

In this episode, Michael shares original research showing how simply changing the display order to best, better, good can significantly increase purchase intent and revenue. Drawing on behavioral economics, loss aversion, and real-world testing, he explains why buyers react differently when the most expensive option is presented first.

Why You Have to Check Out This Episode:

• Learn how reversing plan order increased top-tier selection by 15 points in controlled testing.
• Understand how loss aversion works against you in traditional pricing pages and how to flip it.
• Discover when best, better, good works and when it can hurt retention and Net Revenue Retention (NRR).

"By simply changing the order of plans, we increased revenue by nearly 11% without changing price or features."

– Michael Mansard

Topics Covered:

01:16 - Best, Better, Good vs. Plan Order. Why the order of pricing plans matters and how flipping it can change buyer decisions.

06:23 - The Compromise Effect in Decision-Making. Why buyers gravitate toward the middle option and how loss aversion shapes that behavior.

08:11 - How Plan Order Impacts Choice. What happens when the most expensive plan is shown first and why it reframes value.

11:39 - Pricing Strategy and Consumer Behavior. How buyers justify decisions emotionally versus rationally when evaluating plans.

15:10 - Rethinking Good, Better, Best. Why traditional pricing layouts may limit revenue and when best-first works better.

18:11 - Customer Satisfaction and Pricing Strategy. Risks to churn and net retention and why right-selling matters more than upselling.

22:53 - How to Test Monetization Strategies. Why A/B testing, qualitative feedback, and small-scale experiments are essential.

Key Takeaways:

"A very basic tweak, changing the order from good, better, best to best, better, good, can lead to significant revenue uplift." – Michael Mansard

"Best, better, good reframes the buying question from 'Is it worth paying more?' to 'Why wouldn't I choose the best?'" – Michael Mansard

"Loss aversion means the feeling of losing is much stronger than the feeling of gaining." – Michael Mansard

"Pricing pages should make trade-offs clearer, not more confusing." – Michael Mansard

People & Resources Mentioned:

• INSEAD – Where the research originated through executive education
• Loss Aversion Theory – Behavioral principle driving buyer choice
• Goldilocks / Compromise Effect – Why buyers avoid extremes
• Disney+, Wix, Apple – Examples of best-better-good pricing
• SurveyMonkey – Example of plan order varying by segment

Connect with Michael Mansard:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmansard/
• Article: It's Time to Flip Good, Better, Best on Its Head (published on LinkedIn)

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving
• Email: [email protected]