Pricing doesn’t look the same everywhere. What feels competitive in San Francisco may not translate well in Liverpool.  Giving enterprise customers the same discount as mid-market customers can undermine your bottom line.  As your subscription business grows, so does the complexity of pricing fairly and strategically across markets and customer groups.

Price Segmentation, a new feature in Recurly, helps you tailor pricing based on different customer attributes without the need to create a new plan altogether. Shifting from a one-size-fits-all model to a right-price-for-everyone strategy has never been smoother. Here’s what you need to know.

What is segmented pricing?

For subscription models, a segmented pricing strategy means setting different prices, plans, or discount structures for different groups of customers based on attributes like their size, needs, usage, or willingness to pay.

Key benefits of a segmented pricing strategy

  • Maximizes revenue capture by charging more where willingness to pay is higher.

  • Prevents margin erosion by avoiding blanket offers across customer segments.

  • Supports customer fit since customers can choose a plan aligned with their current needs

How does Recurly help?

Price segmentation allows you to create multiple price points within a single plan. Instead of duplicating plans for every variation, you can manage everything within a single plan. This gives you the flexibility to set prices by geography, demographics, or customer behavior, while keeping your catalog clean and scalable.

Key benefits of Recurly’s Price Segmentation

  • Tailor prices to markets: Set localized or currency-based prices that align with customer expectations in each region

  • Segment customer groups: Offer differentiated pricing for students, seniors, VIP customers, or other cohorts

  • Experiment and optimize: Test multiple price points within one plan, gather insights, and refine your strategy

  • Streamline and scale: Reduce the number of duplicate plans, without being slowed down by operational complexity

Why does it matter?

With homegrown subscription solutions, implementing segmented pricing has traditionally meant duplicating plans — one for Germany, another for Italy, one for students, one for seniors. This approach creates:

  • Operational drag: Admins waste time creating and managing dozens of plans

  • Messy data: Analysts struggle to compare performance across groups

  • Limited growth: Without flexible pricing, conversions and retention often suffer

Price segmentation changes this by consolidating variations into a single plan, giving you more agility to respond to customer needs. More importantly, it helps you fine tune your retention strategies and scale operations with ease. 

What are the practical use cases of Price Segmentation?

With Recurly, your price segments can be defined however you need. Here’s a few use cases to get you started.

Example: A global SaaS company can now offer its flagship plan for $22 in the US, €16 in Italy, and €19 in France to align with local market value — all from a single plan configuration.

2. Demographic and persona-based segmentation

Example: a movie theater subscription could have a single "Premium" plan with multiple USD price points:

  • $15/mo (Segment: youth)

  • $20/mo (Segment: first responder)

  • $25/mo (Default)

This allows you to cater to different groups' willingness to pay without cluttering your product catalog or public pricing.

3. Behavioral-based segmentation

Reward your most loyal customers. An e-commerce merchant could create price segments based on purchasing history. For a VIP subscription, loyal customers who purchase frequently might see a price of $15/mo, while new customers see the standard $20/mo, encouraging long-term engagement. 

How Price Segmentation works in Recurly?

We provide the toolkit; you provide the strategy. You retain full control over which customer sees which price.

  1. Create price segments: Within a single plan in Recurly, add multiple price points for any currency. Assign each a unique, human-readable code (e.g., USD-NYC, EUR-STUDENT).

  2. Implement your business logic: On your website or in your application, determine which segment a visitor belongs to. This logic can be based on their IP address, a self-selection form, their login status, or any other data you have.

  3. Surface the price via the API: When loading the subscription details, simply pass the corresponding price_segment_id (your custom code) in your API call. Recurly instantly returns the correct price for that user.

For technical details, see our Product Docs andAPI Docs.

Pricing is now your strategic lever

By moving pricing complexity off the plan level and into a flexible, segmented model, your entire operation becomes more agile. You are no longer constrained by the platform; you are empowered by it.

Stop managing a list of products and start managing a sophisticated, targeted pricing strategy.

Ready to ditch the duplicate plans?

Implement this feature now.