What if the competitor price you are matching was wrong to begin with?
It is one of the most common ways associations set a price. Look at what similar organizations charge. Land somewhere close.
It feels safe. It feels informed.
But it can lead you in the wrong direction. Here is why, and what to do instead.
You Can See Their Price. You Cannot See Their Strategy.
When you look at a competitor’s website, you see a number. That is all you see.
You do not see their budget. You do not see their membership trends. You do not know what their board debates are behind closed doors.
You also do not know if their price is working.
Think about social media. You might see another organization posting every day. Some posts get a handful of likes. One post a month takes off. From the outside, it looks like success. But engagement is not revenue. You have no idea if any of it is bringing in members.
Pricing is the same. A competitor’s price tells you what they charge. It does not tell you if they are getting it right.
The Hidden Assumptions
When we copy a competitor’s price, we make two quiet assumptions.
First, we assume they are doing it right.
Second, we assume we are doing it wrong.
Neither may be true. They might be underpriced and struggling. They might be looking at your price and thinking the same thing about you. Now two organizations are steering by each other, and no one is steering by the data.
Their Price May Not Be What It Seems
A low price can hide a lot.
Say another organization runs a one-day event for a very low fee. It looks like you can never compete. But maybe sponsors cover most of the cost. Maybe the fee only pays for lunch. Maybe they lose money on it every year on purpose.
You cannot see any of that from their registration page.
If you match their price without their sponsor base, you are matching a number without the model behind it.
How Much Should Competitors Count?
Competitors are not useless. They just should not lead.
In our work, competitor pricing is a small input. It might nudge a decision. It should never make it. Your own data on value, willingness to pay, and buying behavior should carry far more weight.
A Better Way to Look at the Competition
If you do want to study competitors, do it in two steps.
Step one: compare what is public. Look at their price next to yours. Then look at what they say they deliver. Maybe you charge more, but you also deliver more. That context matters.
Step two: ask your members. This is the step most teams skip. Add one question to your annual member survey or post-event survey:
Where else do you go for this type of education, networking, or information? What can we learn from them?
This tells you two things.
You learn who you are really competing with. It is often not another association. It might be a free webinar series, an online course platform, or a private community.
You also learn how you compare. Members may tell you another group offers more events, but most of them are sales pitches. Or that you are the best place for a certain type of learning. You cannot learn that from a website.
Some Competitors Are Really Complements
Not every overlap is a threat.
We have seen associations worry that another organization will take their members. Then they ask members who belong to both. The answer surprises them. Members say the two groups do different things well. One is strong on regional content. The other is strong on national content. They are not choosing. They are using both.
That changes the conversation. Instead of cutting prices to compete, you can focus on what makes you strong. And you can decide where to grow.
Competition Can Be Good News
A crowded market can feel like pressure. Look at it another way.
If others are offering something similar, the need is real. The idea is proven. Your job is not to be the cheapest. It is to be clear about what makes you different.
For many associations, that difference is belonging. Members know your staff. Your staff knows them. It feels like home. A for-profit provider offering the same credit cannot match that.
That is worth pricing for.
Key Takeaways
A competitor’s price does not tell you if their strategy works.
Copying a price assumes they are right and you are wrong. Neither may be true.
A low price may be propped up by sponsors or other revenue you cannot see.
Competitor pricing should be a small input, not the deciding factor.
Ask members where else they go and what they find there.
Some competitors are complements. Members may use both for different reasons.
Lead with what makes you different, not with being cheaper.
Conclusion
Looking at competitors feels like research. Too often, it is guesswork with a spreadsheet.
Use them as a reference point. Then look at your own members. What do they value? What will they pay? Where else do they go, and why?
That is where your best pricing decisions come from.
Are you ready to tackle your association’s pricing problems? Visit www.pricingforassociations.com today to schedule a virtual coffee chat where we can discuss what your organization needs and how we can best support you.
