Pricing Strategies to Maximize Your Revenue

How much buyers are willing to pay for your 3D models is determined more by the models’ perceived value than by their cost. Setting a very low price isn’t always the best approach as the low-priced model may be perceived as low-quality. If your model has a very high price, however, buyers may not be able to afford it. The goal for any pricing strategy should be to set prices that present your work in the right light and provide reasonable value to buyers.

There is no “perfect” pricing for each type of model, but by using the correct pricing strategies you can find your “sweet spot” in the market within a few weeks. In this article, we will share 3 pricing strategies that you can use to set prices that will maximize revenue while respecting consumer and market demand.

Competition-based pricing

Competition-based pricing uses existing market prices of similar 3D models as a starting point. This strategy requires that you do a bit of research into prices that your current competitors are using. This strategy is perfect for situations in which your models are competing in a highly saturated space—in this case, a slight price difference may be the deciding factor for customers.

You can price your products slightly below your competition, the same as your competition, or slightly above your competition. For example, if you are selling a low-poly game ready character, and your competitors’ prices ranged from $19.99 to $39.99 per month, you’d choose a price between those two numbers.

Whichever price you choose, competitive pricing is one way to stay on top of the competition and keep your product offer dynamic. Remember to revisit your pricing, as market conditions change frequently and you want your pricing to remain competitive.

Freemium pricing strategy

The freemium pricing model involves providing the basic version of a product for free, while also offering a full-featured version of the model for a fee. This strategy is useful if you want to offer a peek into your model’s full functionality while also building trust with a potential buyer.

An example of how you might use this strategy would be to offer a free character model under a Creative Commons license and then offer the rigged and animated version of the same character on the Sketchfab Store. Freemium pricing may not make you a lot of money initially, but it develops a relationship between you and potential buyers, which is valuable in the long term.

Psychological pricing

Psychological pricing is what it sounds like—it uses human psychology to boost your sales. It is the practice of setting prices slightly lower than a whole number. This practice is based on the belief that customers do not round up these prices, and so will treat them as lower prices than they really are.

For example, even if your asset that costs $4.99 is very nearly $5, customers may see this as a good deal simply because of the “9” in the price—removing one cent from the rounded dollar price of your model will trick the brain into thinking it costs less. So $5 becomes $4.99, and the customer sees and remembers the 4, not the 5.

Each of these three strategies offers different advantages and downsides. At the very least, you must make sure your pricing strategy covers your costs and includes a margin for profit. Determining your needs up front can help you identify which strategy—or strategies—are ideal to grow your business.