Naming product tiers, or coming up with creative tier names for plans and packages, can be a difficult creative process and be quite a headache.
But product tiers are a necessary part of marketing and product. You want at least a few tiers to offer your customers so that they have a choice. You don’t want too many because that will cause analysis paralysis. You also don’t want too few because your prospects may feel like you don’t cater to their needs.
And on top of that, they should at least sound quite good! (Which is why we need creativity)
But fret not! Here are some ideas that you can use to determine how your plan and product tiers are named.
Naming Product Tiers: Using A Product Attribute
One thing that you might want to consider is that product tiers may change over time. If you define your tiers tied to a product attribute, make sure the product attribute doesn’t change. For example, in gas or petrol, it’s common to have the octane in the product tiers, like what Shell does:
- Shell FuelSave 95
- Shell FuelSave 98
Naming Product Tiers: KISS
Personally, I found that simple is better when coming to product tier names. You can even use numbers or letters.
- Beginner
- Intermediate
- Advanced
- Expert
- Standard
- Premium
- Enterprise
- Package 1 / Plan A
- Package 2 / Plan B
- Package 3 / Plan C
Alternatively, you can also have product tier names in relation to size:
- Nano
- Micro
- Mega
- Giga
You can also make use of flora and fauna. You can name your product tiers according to how fast your customer wants results. In which case, you might be able to use the size or speed of animals, like:
- Hare
- Antelope
- Cheetah
Or to showcase a process of growth, you can use the size of a plant:
- Seed
- Shoot
- Sapling
- Tree
You can also go with a more corporate slant to things:
- Essential
- Team
- Corporate
- Enterprise
Naming Product Tiers: Real-world Examples
Zoom uses these tiers. It’s simple, classic, and works. Generally, I stay clear of the words “Basic” or “Standard” in paying tiers. Unless the tier is really basic, it doesn’t give your customers a good feeling.
- Basic
- Pro
- Business
- Enterprise
Zendesk uses
- Lite
- Professional
- Enterprise
You can also use precious metals, as such:
- Bronze
- Silver
- Gold
- Platinum
Speaking of precious metals, American Express uses these in their credit card tiers. I honestly think they messed this up, since it gets a bit confusing between the Platinum credit card and the Platinum Card.
- Gold
- Platinum Credit Card
- Platinum Reserve
- Platinum Card
- Centurion
Other than precious metals, you can also use gemstones for your product tiers, which is what companies like Amway does.
- Ruby
- Sapphire
- Emerald
- Diamond
- And double diamond, triple diamond, founders diamond, etc
Banking levels typically have these different tiers too:
- Priority
- Premier
- Privilege
- Private
Naming Product Tiers: Modifiers
Other things that you can consider are modifiers. This is especially useful when you start your business, and after a while, you realise that you need to create an in-between plan.
Imagine starting with these 3 plans and product tiers.
- Starter
- Premium
- Elite
Now maybe you realise that the Premium tier is too far away from the Elite tier, and you need something in between.
You can create a brand new tier, but giving it a completely different name isn’t ideal too because it’s not enough to be a separate tier on its own. This is when modifiers come in, like in the case of the new “Premium Pro” product tier below.
- Starter
- Premium
- Premium Pro
- Elite
Naming Product Tiers
Whenever I start a business, product tiers is one of the first few things that I have to do. However, the names of your product tiers aren’t the most crucial to the success of your business.
What’s more important is the actual pricing and benefits that your products have to offer to your customers.
It involves some consumer psychology, but properly-priced product tiers will funnel your customers to a product tier that you want as well. This forms the fundamentals that you need before you can scale up your business.
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