About

Pricing Strategy Brief Background Independent and member-funded since 1959, CHOICE is Australia’s largest and highest profile consumer advocacy organisation. It exists (like its sister brands - Which? (UK), Consumer Reports (US) and Siflung Wartest (DE)) to make sure that Australian consumers get a ‘fair go’. Since 2018 due to technological/resource constraints CHOICE has not changed its current subscription pricing (apart from increasing quarterly pricing for new customers in August 2023) We are now planning for marketing activities post roll-out of our new Marketing Technology platform. With regard to the critical area of pricing CHOICE recognises the need to seek external support in order to create a comprehensive review of CHOICE’s membership pricing options moving forward. We are aiming to have decisions from those recommendations in place ready to go post CMS/Subs Engine warranty period, in early March 2026 Context In Australia, CHOICE is unique – there are no other consumer organisations with a similar subscription model. Government bodies like the Australian Consumer Commission (ACCC) provide consumer protection but are taxpayer funded, and private review sites rely on advertisements or referrals instead of subscriptions. This makes CHOICE’s model more comparable to its overseas counterparts. Therefore, to help CHOICE optimise its pricing and to provide the ‘right’ balance between revenue with subscriber numbers, it is particularly useful to examine similar consumer advocacy organisations internationally. However, this is not the only source of data and analysis. To date we have: a) profiled comparable organisations, their subscription models (tiers, pricing, benefits), and notable strategies used to drive retention and revenue. b) highlighted industry benchmarks and case studies relevant to pricing and member retention consolidated and re-analysed our analysis/findings of the pricing changes we made in 2014, 2018 and 2023. We are now seeking to supplement the work conducted so far with the expertise of an external pricing consultant to validate/challenge our initial findings laid as well as provide their recommendations on the price points we are seeking to test in the market via our new A/B testing tool. This is a summary of our current plan with regards to implementing price increases on our subscription offer: Phase 0 (September 2025 - February 2026) - Preparation/Planning Phase 0 CHOICE hires a specialist pricing agency/consultant who with deep access into our datasets and data analyst team and come back with a price forecasting model based on our current value proposition (transactional subscription) and current price elasticity curves to incorporate and finalise the following 3 phases: Phase 1 (1-6 months post CMS/Subs Engine Rollout) As soon as feasible from a technical, resource and risk perspective increase/decrease the price point for all three current subscription offers (3-month, yearly (digital only) and yearly (digital and print) Using specific recommendations from the external pricing consultant we would A/B test at least three different recommended price points to determine the ‘winning’ price points. This would usually take about 2-3 weeks to determine the ‘winner’ Phase 2 (6-12 months post CMS/Subs Engine rollout) CHOICE re-hires the same specialist pricing agency/consultancy to access our new datasets and come back with a new price forecasting model based on removing the 3-month subscription offer (subject to data and analytics indicating that this is the right option) Phase 3 - Yearly Price Increases (as required/agreed) Short-term, medium-term and long-term pricing analysis performance continues to be assessed and measured using the same methodology and process we used to assess 2014, 2018 and 2023 price increases. Assuming that revenue/subscription levels perform in the way we expect them to (short-term drop in subscriptions, long-term rise in revenue) we will introduce a yearly cadence to assessing our current price levels against our strategy/operating costs and decide on level and types of price increase. This yearly review can also be used to assess and decide on any new subscription types CHOICE has been testing and may want to introduce. Note: it is not baked in stone that there will be yearly price increases but there will be the opportunity to review on a yearly basis (or more frequently if required) Initial questions we’d like to explore For the purpose of framing and pricing a potential engagement, below are some of the questions we’d like to explore as part of your contribution to the pricing strategy/review. 1. Does the current Pricing Strategy/Review make sense and incorporate everything you need to allow you to provide your thinking around what the new price points should look like? If it does not, what additional work would you require either CHOICE or you to do to allow you to make better decisions/recommendations? (Note: the document is currently 77 pages including appendices) 2. What are the three (or more) price points for our existing pricing tiers would you recommend us A/B testing with our audiences? What are your forecasts from a revenue/membership perspective you would expect to see? 3. What’s the current market landscape for content subscription organisations like CHOICE? What’s working/not working? What has changed since 2018 when it comes to pricing strategies in this category? It is currently our intention to simplify the pricing structure and tiers. At the moment we currently offer Quarterly membership - digital only Yearly Membership - digital Yearly Membership - digital and print In the future we are currently looking at introducing a new tier and removing an existing one and replacing it with another Freemium Membership (new tier) - this would bring Supporters and Prospects Lists together into a free tier that provides a level of content/communication similar to what is already being offered but formalised into a single database/account structure Quarterly membership - digital (removing) Monthly Membership - digital (adding) We would like to know if this assessment/recommendation corresponds with yours? What deliverables are we seeking from you at this point? At this stage we are finalising a short-list of proposed partners. In order to expedite this we are seeking two items: 1. Indicative hours/resources you would deploy based on what we have told you above. It would be useful to break it down into the following categories Review (critique) of current Pricing Strategy/Review Recommendation on new Price Points/Bundles Performance Review after 6 months with further recommendations 2. Case Studies of similar organisations (subscription based content and/or NFPs). Ideally it would be great to receive this information with the name of the brand and contact details we can speak to However we understand if what you can only supply is anonymised (for obvious reasons). If we could receive this information by Wednesday 27th August (or earlier) that would be appreciated. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.