When the price of a product is lower than the amount the customer is willing to pay for the perceived value, the customer typically sees it as a discount and transacts with you. However, in B2B use cases, if the price of the product is less than what the customer perceives as the value or is willing to pay, it can have the counter-effect of confusing the customer about the actual value proposition.

This confusion often arises because many B2B products are complex, and the full range of value propositions isn’t immediately experienced by the buyer. In many cases, the buyer has to take your word for it (e.g., “we can maintain a 99.999% SLA” or “we will provide priority support”).

The combination of a complex product, the buyer’s inability to immediately experience all of the value propositions, and a price that’s lower than what they expect to pay can raise doubts about whether the salesperson is being truthful about the merit of the product.

This is something I learned during the early days of Shopify Plus, where the price was significantly lower than competitors offering large e-commerce contracts to enterprises.

This confusion can be avoided if the lower price is framed as a temporary discount or offer, or if it’s clearly explained what technological advantages allow you to provide such great value at that price point.