Van Westendorp’s Price Sensitivity Meter is a pricing research technique that uses consumer feedback to identify an acceptable price range and optimal price point for a product.
Highlight makes it easy to run a Van Westendorp pricing analysis provides the standard analysis to guide your pricing decisions.
What is the Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter?
Developed by Dutch economist Peter van Westendorp, this method uses four key pricing questions to understand how consumers perceive value and price. The responses are then analyzed to reveal:
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The acceptable price range, between too cheap and too expensive
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The optimal price point where price and perceived value are best balanced
When and How to Use Van Westendorp
Van Westendorp is especially useful in these situations:
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Early product development: Test how consumers might value a new concept or prototype.
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Product updates or redesigns: Gauge pricing tolerance for new features or improvements.
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Market entry: Understand how a product might be positioned against existing alternatives.
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Repositioning: Validate whether current pricing aligns with consumer expectations.
Highlight supports testing both physical products and concepts, making it ideal for everything from consumer packaged goods to early-stage prototypes.
Van Westendorp Questions
To include the Van Westendorp methodology in your project, add the "Van Westendorp Pricing" question module. These open-ended questions give users room to express nuanced price perceptions.
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Purchase intent, unpriced: Would you purchase this product at a fair price?
(A behavioral screener—used to focus analysis on realistic buyers.) -
Too cheap: At what price would this product be so inexpensive that you would question its quality?
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Good value: At what price would this product be a bargain?
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Getting expensive: At what price would this product start to seem expensive?
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Too expensive: At what price would this product be too expensive to consider buying?
How to Understand the Analysis
Once responses are collected, we plot cumulative response curves to generate the standard Van Westendorp intersections:
| Key Point | Definition |
|---|---|
| Point of Marginal Cheapness (PMC) | Where “Too Cheap” and “Expensive” curves intersect – the lower bound of the acceptable price range. |
| Point of Marginal Expensiveness (PME) | Where “Too Expensive” and “Bargain” curves intersect – the upper bound of the acceptable price range. |
| Optimal Price Point (OPP) | Where “Too Cheap” and “Too Expensive” curves intersect – where the fewest people reject the price. |
| Indifference Price Point (IDP) | Where “Bargain” and “Expensive” curves intersect – where perceptions are most neutral. |
Highlight calculates these intersections and visualizes them so you can:
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Understand the price range that feels reasonable to consumers
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Pinpoint the price that balances value and risk perception
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Compare pricing tolerance across different consumer segments or product versions