Cheaper Isn’t Better: Why I Won’t Switch to a $3.50 Alternative

If you think you can compete and win on price alone, you’re wrong.

I use Calendly for scheduling. The monthly cost of use for me is $12 per month (I have been using it for a long time and was grandfathered into a lower pricing package; the current pricing would probably be $15/mo if I weren’t).

Today, an offer was presented to me from a competitor named Breely. They offered similar functionality at $7/month. They even offered a 50% discount for my first year, making it $3.50 per month.

At first glance, the Breely offer seems compelling due to its lower pricing. In fact, if there were 100% feature parity, it would make logical sense for someone to switch.

However, let’s pause for a moment and examine the real-world customer calculus.

A quick look at both platforms reveals that they both live in the world of scheduling. But what is the fundamental problem they solve? I would argue that the JTBD of both platforms is to save time and effort connecting with others.

Breely is trying to get me to switch by offering additional features, but without explaining how it either (a) better solves my JTBD or (b) shows me how it solves an additional JTBD.