Monetizing AI? Start with the customer: Lessons from Zendesk

Monetizing AI? Start with the customer: Lessons from Zendesk

Zendesk recently dropped pricing for their new AI service, making big fanfare of something they call “outcome-based pricing.” And it’s a big deal, because it’s a sign of things to come.

Here’s why.

AI, as you know, is everywhere. Companies are quickly launching copilots and other AI features, and they’re wrestling with how to monetize this technology. The Subscribed Institute at Zuora analyzed GenAI pricing metrics and models from over 70 companies and found that when companies explore AI, most land on implementing it with some form of a usage pricing model.

Usage is the dominant direction for AI monetization because it’s the answer to a long list of questions that companies have on their journey with AI, including: How do you charge for something that’s still evolving? How do you price something by users, when there are no users, or worse, the AI is meant to reduce the number of people needed? And how do you make it something customers will value?

Companies that ask these questions recognize that if they don’t think about AI and how to monetize it from the customer's point of view, then whatever features and products they bring to the market are dead in the water. AI tools need to deliver tangible value, not just flashy features. If they don't solve real problems, they're not worth paying for.

Zendesk gets this. Implementing an outcome-based pricing model for its AI agents, Zendesk’s “customers will only incur costs for issues that are resolved autonomously by AI.” This pricing is a version of usage, which is a model where customers are charged based on how much of a service or product they consume. We’ve talked about this before with the example of Starbucks and their spin on usage: a prepaid, draw-down model where Starbucks card users pay incrementally for what they use, ensuring more flexibility and aligning costs with usage.

In Zendesk’s case, this is a new feature, and that comes with perceived risk. How do you know that the AI will work? This is where Zendesk was smart: Instead of pricing for all issues addressed, Zendesk only prices for successful outcomes, putting the burden on themselves, not the customer — and taking the usage model to new heights in the process.

Zendesk’s new offering and its pricing isn’t a full pivot. It’s complementary. You can see (below) that Zendesk still charges per agent for their core product.

And that’s important because consumers want options for how they engage with a business. We brought back Subscribed Weekly in March to share stories like Zendesk’s, which show that to have staying power you need a customer-centric and future-proof approach to monetization.

Modern businesses know they need a diverse and flexible approach to monetization that continuously matches ever-changing consumer demand. That means offering traditional subscriptions, usage-based pricing, add-on offers, freemium, free with ads, and other structures that customers want. This is how businesses grow. In fact, businesses with three-to-five charge models grow faster than those with fewer.

And we can’t forget: a modular monetization platform makes it possible to power all of these models, easily moving pricing options in and out as needed.

Zendesk's adoption of outcome-based pricing is a bold and forward-thinking move. It demonstrates a commitment to customer value, a willingness to embrace innovation, and a recognition that the present and future of business lies in flexibility and adaptability. The future of monetization is about delivering value, not just products, and Zendesk is leading the way.

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Disclosure: These opinions expressed are mine, not those of the company. The companies mentioned in this newsletter are not necessarily Zuora customers.

Rahul Kannan

President, Go-To-Market Specialist, Board Advisor

1w

Love outcome case pricing, true value selling but see some challenges. More operational than the strategic. What are you seeing in terms of what it does to - sales cycles (typically increases); CFO of Zendesk (forecasting revenue); CFO of customer (forecasting expenses). How to scale this.

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Hasanur Rahaman

Land your Full Dream Project First & Fast | Staff Augmentation | AWS | Migration | Serverless | Generative AI

3w

Really great insights Tien!

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Vijay Rayapati

CEO at Atomicwork | Agentic Service Management for Enterprise IT

1mo

Thanks for sharing, Tien. Outcome based pricing works for the company with deal velocity while also reducing the friction for buyers on ROI justification during purchase and renewal phases. Love to read more on AI pricing and outcome based analysis from you!

Ozii Obiyo

Obsessing over customer success @AWS

1mo

Thanks for sharing, Tien! Zendesk's move to outcome-based pricing for their AI service is indeed a game-changer. Aligning their success directly with their customers' success is brilliant.

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